UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
AT LOS ANGELES
GIFT OF CAPT. AND MRS.
PAUL MCBRIDE PERIGORD
UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA
AT
LOS ANGELES
LIBRARY
OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY COURT HOUSE,
AT WOODBURY.
FROM SKETCH BY FRANK H. TAYLOR
NOTES ON
Old Gloucester County
NEW JERSEY
HISTORICAL RECORDS PUBLISHED BY
THE NEW JERSEY SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA
VOLUME I
Compiled and Edited by
FRANK H.LSTEWART
HISTORIAN OF THE SOCIETY
1917
144593
COPYRIGHTED 1917, BY
THE NEW JERSEY SOCIETY op PENNSYLVANIA
PRINTED BY
SINNICKSON CHKW & SONS COMPANY
CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY
New Jersey
Down from thy hills the streams go leaping,
Up from thy shores the tides come creeping,
In bay and river the waters meet,
Singing and singing with rhythmic beat
Songs no orchestra may repeat,
New Jersey!
Fled from the southern sun's fierce burning,
Back from the chill of the north wind turning,
With mayflowers decking her form so rare
And magnolias redolent in her hair,
Queen Flora rests on thy bosom fair,
New Jersey!
Lakes the feet of thy mountains are laving,
Over thy plains the forests are waving,
Across thy meadows and marshes and sands
Orchards and farms are clasping their hands,
Garden of States in fairest of lands!
New Jersey!
Smoke from thy cities' chimneys rising
Looms to the sky, a Genius surprising,
A Genius whose touch to new visions gives birth,
Of homes rejoicing in music and mirth,
And song floating everywhere over the earth,
New Jersey!
tH
Quaker and Dutchman, long ago meeting,
Hailed thy shores with immigrants' greeting,
And still on the old home sites to-day
Their children's children sturdily stay,
Glad for thy progress and leading the way,
New Jersey!
00
^ Mother, dear Mother, thy sons are proclaiming
Loyalty; with their banners aflaming
The Jersey Blues still march at thy side,
Eager to cheer thee with love and with pride,
Ready to guard thee, whatever betide.
New Jersey!
JAMES LANE PENNYPACKER,
Haddonfield, June 2, 1917.
The New Jersey Society of Pennsylvania
PHILADELPHIA
The action of The New Jersey Society of Pennsyl-
vania in causing to be printed the "Notes on Old Glouces-
ter County, New Jersey," compiled by Mr. Frank H.
Stewart, the Historian of the Society, was the result of a
motion made at a meeting of the Board of Directors of the
Society, held on May 4th, 1917.
At that meeting the following action was taken :
On motion duly made by Mr. John W. Sparks, and seconded
by Mr. George B. Hurff, the Chair appointed Messrs. Mulford and
Stewart a committee of two to act in conjunction with the Ban-
quet Committee, and cause to be printed at the expense of the
Society and distributed at the annual banquet of the Society, to be
held on December i8th, 1917, copies of "Notes on Old Gloucester
County," written and edited by the Historian of the Society, Mr.
Frank H. Stewart.
WILLIAM J. CONLEN, Secretary.
FOREWORD
All over the State of New Jersey there are priceless
historical and genealogical manuscript records gradually
decaying and wearing away. Every year destruction by
fire, age and carelessness takes place. Books and papers
of a public nature are in private hands, sometimes rightly
and oftentimes otherwise. Before it is too late legisla-
tion should be enacted providing at Trenton or elsewhere
a fire-proof building suitable for preserving and making
accessible the old unknown and unused records that are
now stored in boxes or jammed in drawers in the various
county buildings. In all of the New Jersey counties are
marriage records. These by all means should be printed
in the New Jersey Archives. Various Church records of
great value for the vital statistics they contain are stowed
away in attics and every time the clergyman changes loss
is likely to occur. Township records, unrecorded deeds,
ancient diaries, surveyors' maps, church documents and
letters are invariably in private hands, and many of the
owners would gladly give them to the State of New Jer-
sey if a proper custody were provided.
The New Jersey Society of Pennsylvania believes it
can do a noble work by publishing, from time to time,
county by county, as its funds permit, the most important
happenings of a historical character. With nothing but
a deep desire to preserve worthy records, the compiler
has possibly followed an unique course in the belief that
the ordinary man is selfish enough to desire that the his-
tory of his family should be forever saved. Therefore,
6 FOREWORD.
if this publication should seem to be over-burdened with
names it is because of the wish to impress on as many
people as possible that they have a personal family inter-
est in the records that will not exist a few years hence
if immediate action is not taken either to copy them or
safeguard the originals.
The compilation of this book has taken altogether
several months of time, and to many kind friends whose
names appear as authors of different papers the Society
here makes acknowledgment. The names of the con-
tributors are George E. Pierson, Wallace McGeorge, M.
D., Louis B. Moffett, Rev. Edgar Campbell, George B.
Macaltioner, Gideon Peaslee, Frank H. Taylor, James
L. Pennypacker and Samuel N. Rhoads.
To other good friends who have otherwise assisted
by making easily accessible countless pages of manuscript
records the compiler is indebted.
FRANK H. STEWART.
Contents
Page.
New Jersey, a poem 3
Gloucester County Court Records, 1686 to 1799 9-28
Old Trinity Church, Swedesboro 29
Battle of Red Bank 35
Gloucester County Merchant 51
Township Book of Great Egg Harbor 55
Inn and Tavern Licenses 60
Slavery in Old Gloucester 65
King's Highway 69
Moravian Church 77
Gloucester County Freeholders' Records, 1701 to 1800 87-132
James B. Cooper, a Hero of Two Wars 133
Gen. Franklin Davenport 139
Col. Thomas Heston 143
The Indian King w 147
Woodbury Fire Company 151
Samuel Mickle's Diary... 155
Job Whitall's Diary 255
Spelling of Family Names 261
First Quakers in Old Gloucester 263
Ancient Burial Places 265
Old Gloucester County, its Formation and its Divisions 289
Distinguished Clergymen 291
Haddon Hall, of Haddonfield 293
Journal of Thomas Clark 303
Battle of Chestnut Neck 307
Life of Dr. Bodo Otto, Jr 309
Custom House of Little Egg Harbor 313
Diary of Ann Whitall 315
Historical Notes 317
Gloucester Fox Hunting Club 322
Docket of John Litle, J. P 325
Historical References 329
Officers, Committees and Members of The New Jersey Society
of Pennsylvania 332-336
Index 337
Illustrations
Page.
Old Gloucester County Courthouse, 1787-1885 Frontispiece
Defying the Hessians, Red Bank 34
Old Milestone on King's Highway 68
Old Moravian Church 76
Indian King Tavern, Haddonfield 146
Woodbury Fire Engine, 1709 150
Old Tatem Oak, Mt. Royal 154
Proprietors' Tree at Gloucester 254
Graveyard, Moravian Church 264
FJizabeth Haddon House 292
<
Notes on Old Gloucester County
Gloucester County Court Records*
Two hundred and thirty-one years ago Gloucester
county was established, and despite the fact that several
fires have occurred in the County Court houses since then,
the Court records still exist in fair condition after the
ravages of time and use are considered. Gloucester
county was the first county in America established by its
inhabitants. The first page of the first Court book con-
tains the following:
GLOUCESTER YE 28TH MAY, 1686
By the Proprietors, Freeholders and inhabitants of
the Third and Fourth Tenths (Alias County of Glouces-
ter) then agreed as followeth :
Imprimis That a Court be held for the Jurisdiction and
limits of the aforesaid Tenths or County one
Tyme at Axnamus alias Gloucester and an-
other tyme at Red Bank.
Item That there be four courts for the Jurisdiction
aforesaid held in one year at ye days and tymes
hereafter mentioned viz, upon the first day of the
first month, upon the first day of the fourth month,
on the first day of the seventh month and upon ye
first day of the tenth month.
Item That the first Court shall be held at Gloucester
aforesaid upon the first day of September next.
Item That all warrants and summons shall be drawne
by the Clerke of the Courte and signed by a Justice
and soe delivered to the Sheriff or his Deputy to
execute.
* By FRANK H. STEWART.
i
io NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
Item That the bodye of each warrant &c shall Contayne
or Intimate the nature of action.
Item That a copy of the Declaration be given along
with ye warrant by the Clerke of the Court that
soe the defendant may have the longer tyme to
considder the same and prepare his answer.
Item That all summons warrants &c shall be served and
declaration given at least ten days before the
Court.
Item That the Sheriffe shall give the jury summons six
dayes before the Courte be held at which they are
to appear.
Item That all persons within ye jurisdiction aforesaid
bring into the next Courte ye marks of their
Hoggs and other Cattell in order to be approved
and recorded.
THE EAR MARK BOOK.
This book contains about two hundred and fifty ear
mark registrations, and is a practical directory of all of
the first settlers of the county, beginning at 1686. A fac
simile copy of the book has been made by request of the
writer and is now in The Genealogical Society of Penna.,
1300 Locust street, Philadelphia.
Many of the members of the New Jersey Society of
Pennsylvania will find the hog ear marks of their ancestors
in this book.
All of the old counties of New Jersey had their ear
mark books, and they, together with other priceless records
of the Colony of New Jersey, should be printed by author-
ity of the State as part of the New Jersey Archives, and I
know of no greater privilege or duty than this for our
Society to accomplish. Ear marks were handed down
from father to son and in some cases transferred as a
trade-mark would be to-day.
In the court records of the old counties of New Jer-
sey frequent mention is made of the unlawful killing of
NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY. n
hogs in the woods. Negro slaves loved bacon then as their
descendants do to this day, and how to keep a husky negro
slave away from a good fat acorn fed hog was a problem
that oftentimes had its finish in the court records of Glou-
cester, Salem and Burlington counties.
A long snouted, agile, wild boar hog furnished better
sport for a gunner than a jack rabbit would to-day, and it
is not without pleasure that I mention the names of the
following sportsmen of old Gloucester, predecessors of the
famous fox hunting club :
At the Sept., 1690, Court held at Gloucester, Israel
Holme, Mons Justeson and William Cobb were "indicted
for their unlawful hunting and killing of Hoggs."
In 1697, John Ashbrook, John Hugg, Jr., Amos
Whiteall, Samuel Taylor, Robert Parker, Charles Cross-
thwait were also indicted for killing Hogs in the woods
contrary to law.
COURT HOUSE AND PRISON
It was just as necessary to have a good substantial
jail in 1696 as now. The following appears in the court
records of that year:
"The Court orders that a prison of twenty foot long
and sixteen feet wide of a sufficient Height and strength
made of loggs be erected and builded in Gloucester with
a Court House over the same of a convenient height and
largeness Covered of and with Cedar shingles well and
workmanlike to be made and with all convenient expedi-
tion furnished."
Twelve years later it seemed desirable to make an
addition to the prison and court house, and it will be
noticed that brick and stone took the place of logs in the
new edifice. In order to get the money by taxation a
plan was formulated by the grand jury and then as now
there were some delinquent tax payers of the assessments
12 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
made for the addition to the public buildings. It is sur-
mised that Matthew Medcalf, the County Treasurer, had
some trouble in keeping the various cereals turned in to
him in payment of taxes at "money price." For two or
three years afterwards it appears that some of the inhabi-
tants had not paid their share of this special tax made in
accordance with the following:
Wee the Grand Jury of the County of Gloucester
being met together this 5th Day of the 8th Month 1708
* * * conclude it necessary that an addition be made to
the prison and Court House in manner following vis.,
that it Joyne to the South End of the old one, to be made
of stone and brick twelve foot in ye cleare and two story
high with a stack of chimneys joyning to the old house so
that it be uniform in breadth to the Court House from the
foundation.
TAX
A tax was laid for the cost as follows :
For every hundred acres of land taken up and sur-
veyed one shilling
For every horse and mare exceeding three years old
one shilling
For cattle exceeding three years old six pence
For sheep exceeding one year old two pence
For each free man in hired service or otherwise three
shillings
For each negro exceeding twelve years old three
shillings
to be paid into the county treasurer at or before the first
day of the first month next ensuing the date hereof either
in current silver money or corn or any other country pro-
duce at money price to be delivered and brought into ye
County Treasurer at his dwelling house by the respective
inhabitants within the time aforesaid.
Matthew Medcalf was appointed County Treasurer.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 13
ASSESSORS
The following assessors were appointed :
Samuel Cole for Waterford twp.
William Albertson for Newton.
John Siddon for Gloucester.
John Ladd for Debtford twp.
William Dalbo & Elias Fish for Greenwich twp.
John Summors for Egg Harbour.
All to receive six pence per pound for assessing the same
and to give the people notice and for making of the dupli-
cates ready to deliver to the treasurer the first of the
tenth month next. The County Treasurer was also allow-
ed six pence per pound for his services.
FARM PRODUCE AS CURRENCY
Currency was a scarce article in New Jersey, and
Gloucester county in 1686 placed the products of the
field on a currency basis and, if a citizen could not pay
his taxes with money, cereals were acceptable at the fol-
lowing valuations :
S. d.
Wheat @ 40
Rye 3 o
Barley 3 o
Indian corn 2 6
Oats 2 o
Indian peas 5 o
Buckwheat 2 6 per bushel
At the end of the June 1703 term of Court held at
Gloucester is this inscription-
Here end the Proprietary
Government of ye province of
West New Jersie in America.
14 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
OLD ROADS AND BRIDGES
A careful reading of the court records concerning
the marking, building and repairing of the first highways
shows much of interest to the historian and users of the
roads.
It seems that the inhabitants of a section in which a
road was to be built were ordered to help, and when they
refused were fined. Where repairs were necessary the
overseer was told when to have the job done or suffer a
fine for neglect or tardiness. The comfort of the indi-
vidual was always subservient to the necessities of the
times as is shown by the quaint words of the old records.
In 1686 several of the persons summoned to build
the road between Salem and Burlington by Wolly Dalbo
surveyor having refused to obey the order of the court
were fined six shillings each.
Dec. i, 1696: The Grand Jury return and present
John Hopman for not repairing of ye Bridge on Salem
Road within his provimet.
The Bench order that ye Bridge and Road be re-
paired within ye space of six weeks next or H to pay
20 shillings fine for his neglect.
In 1696 James Steelman elected overseer of ye high-
ways to mark and make the road from Egg Harbour to-
wards Gloucester and that he have power to summon to-
gether ye Inhabitants of Egg Harbour to that purpose.
In 1698 the Grand Jury ordered the highway be-
tween Gloucester and Great Egg Harbor to be repaired
and made good at or before the 29th of Sept. Next.
1698: A Court held at Gloucester, March ist, 1698
Thos. Revel, Joseph Tomlinson, Joseph Broman, Mord.
Howell, John Somers, Justices Present.
Complaint having been made to ye Bench that a
Bridge over a Branch of Pensoaken Creek above Richard
Heritage's is either broken down or wants much repaira-
tion whereupon ye Bench orders that ye clerk send to
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 15
Thomas Shackle overseers of ye Highways and together
with Richard Heritage to see that ye said Bridge be
mended and made good on or before ye next Gloucester
Court under ye penalty of being then and there fined for
their neglect.
1701 : The Grand Jury does agree that ye lower
Road to Salem shall be upheld with this proviso. That ye
Bridge over Timber Creek be built and that ye said
Bridge be Builded without a county charge to which ye
Bench assents.
In 1708 William Warner and Mat. Medcalfe at the
request of John Wood and his neighbors "laid out a way
for the use of the people of Bedford twp. avoiding the
swamps and low wet grounds from John Woods' house
to Henry Threadways to a fast landing upon the branch
of Woodbury Creek called Matthews his branch where
was formerly and now must be made a bridge." From
there over the said branch and causeway through the
swamp to the fast land on the other side of the branch in
a direct line to Thomas Nixons field and so along the
outside of the said field straight to the King's Road near
Bedford Bridge which said way is to be 16 ft. wide.
1709: The overseers for the highways appointed
were John Mickle for Gloucester town.
William Clarke and Nathaniel Chew for Gloucester
twp.
Joseph Collins and John Hinchman for Newtowne.
John Chevers (Shivers) and John Heritage for
Waterford.
Joshua Lord and John Cook for Debtford. Wollo
Peterson and Andrew Lock for Greenwich.
In 1710 Joseph Yard was fined twenty shillings for
his contempt in cutting the Bridge over Gloucester River.
1712: "WHEREAS there was complaint made unto
us the under written commissioners that there was need
of a road from the head of Timber Creek where the old
road to Salem formerly went down to Gloucester. Pur-
1 6 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER .COUNTY.
suant to an act of assembly that impowers us in these
cases we have layde out a road commonly called the Irish
Roade as followeth Beginning at Porters Mill and from
thence falling into the Old Roade that went to Burlington
and along the same over Sheeyanees Run from thence to
other branch and thence over the hills to Beaver Branch
by John Huggs plantation thence to the Brick kills upon
Elias Huggs land and from thence upon a straight course
to the little Bridge and from thence along the King's
Roade to Gloucester layde out by us the third day of
December 1712.
RICH. BULL "I ^ . ,
~ c [ Commis s
THO. SHARP J
COOPERS FERRY ROAD
"This 3d day of ye 2d mo. 1721.
Pursuant to an act of General Assembly Instituted
an act for laying out of Public high Roads &c., in the
province of New Jersey, application being made unto us
the survey's under named to lay out a Road from the
ferry of William Cooper until it intersect the Road from
Newton to the mill. Beginning at delloware River on ye
south side ye Bolting house then south easterly sixty five
degrees to ye gate entering said Williams plantation then
south easterly thirty two degrees then south easterly
forty degrees then south easterly fourty four degrees then
south easterly forty degrees then southeasterly twenty
degrees then southeasterly seventy degrees to the old Road
against Arthur Powells house and to along the same to the
intersection aforesaid to be four Rod wide on the south
side of these courses layd out by us the day and year
aforesaid.
THOS. SPICER
ALEXANDER MORGAN
JOHN MICKLE
THOMAS SHARP
JOSEPH COOPER
JOSEPH HUGG"
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 17
From a fragmentary record the following is gleaned,
probably 1727.
"We the subscribers thought proper and necessary to
alter a certain road in ye County of Gloucester in the
Township of Bedford that formerly run between John
Tatems plantation and the Presbyterian Meeting House
on ye side of the King's roade, etc. & etc.
BENJAMIN WATT ISAAC JENNINGS
JOHN SIDDONS JOHN HIN
SAML. HEDGE COBUS
AARON MASON JAMES W "
This is the first mention of the Presbyterian Church
at Woodbury.
NEW ROADS
"In 1726 application was made for four rod road
which was laid out in Gloucester County beginning where
the old road lay from Salem to Burlington thence to the
Saw pitt on the Road commonly called Cohocken Road
and from thence to Mollicas meadow and from thence to
the Cedar Swamp road and along the said road to the
King's Road thence to Robert Garrords and from thence
to a landing place in Manta Creek commonly called by
the name of Garrords Landing."
"At about the same time there was another road laid
out from Nath. Champions to the King's Road starting
between the said Champion and the widow Champion to
the south side of John Shivers over Gadsbys Bridge to
the King's Road. This was a two rod road."
COOPER CREEK FERRY
In 1701, we have an early case of the Public Utility
Commission. Good old John Champion, the ancestor of
an army of present day Champions, did not always feel
like discontinuing his work when some lone traveler came
to the banks of Cooper's creek and hollered for John to
i8 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
get his boat and take the aforesaid traveler across the
ferry. He appeared before the Grand Jury and dickered
for a new rate of fare to which the Judges assented.
The record as written by that fine penman, John
Reading, Clerk of the Court, follows :
"1701 : John Champion complained of the great
cost in setting people over Coopers Creek at his house
and the Grand Jury proposed that in case he would pro-
vide sufficient conveniences for the ferriage of people at
all times that he might charge for two persons together
two pence a head ; for one single person three pence, and
for a man and a horse four pence, to which the Bench
assented."
ROAD HOUSES
Accommodations for travelers were first provided by
persons having residences in the main lines of travel. In
1700, Stephen Jones was granted a license for keeping an
ordinary at his dwelling house on the Salem Road. Mat-
thew Medcalf at this time and for several years previous
was keeping an ordinary in Gloucester.
COST OE LIVING
To give some idea of the cost of things during the
year 1742, the following is copied from the court records :
An Ordinance of the rates of liquors and eatables for
men, provender and pasture for horses to be observed and
kept by all the Public House Keepers, inn keepers or
Tavern Keepers in the county of Gloucester for the en-
suing year as followeth, viz :
Every pint of Madeira Wine is o
Every quart bowl of punch made of loaf sugar good
rum and fresh limes i" 6
Every like Bowl of Punch made with lime juice. . . i" 4
Every quart of Mimbo made of Muscooda sugar. . o" 8
Every quart of Methegline i" o
" " Cider royal o" 8
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 19
Every quart of Egg punch is o
" " Milk " o" 8
" Cyder from ist of Sept. to ist of
Jan o" 3
Jan. ist to ist of Sept o" 4
Every quart of strong beer o" 4
" gill of brandy o" 6
" " other Cordial drams o" 5
" " Rum o" 3
And so in proportion for greater or smaller quanti-
ties for each sort.
Every breakfast of tea, coffee or chocolate o s 8
Every breakfast of other victuals o" 6
Every hot dinner or supper provided for a single
person with a pint of strong beer or cyder. ... i" o
Every hot dinner or supper for a Company with a
quart of strong beer or cyder each i" o
Every cold dinner or supper with a pint of strong
beer or cyder each o" 8
Every nights lodging each person o" 3
HORSES, ETC.
Stabling every horse each night and clover hay
enough os8
Stabling each night and other hay enough o" 6
Every night pasture for a horse o" 6
Every two quarts of oats or other grains o" 3
SURVEYORS IN 1744
Robert Stephens, Joseph Ellis, Jacon Alberson, Ebenezer
Brown, Simeon Ellis, Michael Chew, John Wilkins.
These names appear as surveyors in description of a
road running by Daniel Eastlack, John Breacher, Joseph
Zane, James Graysberry. Mill Creek and Ferry roads
are mentioned.
2O NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT
1746 : Richard Hammon a prisoner under execution
in the gaol of the county for a debt of eighteen pounds at
the suite of Marmaduke Peacock exhibited his petition
to have ye benefit of the act of this province for the re-
lief of insolvent debtors and having signed ye schedule
of his estate and being examined and having taken the
oath in court prescribed by the said act of assembly. On
motion of Mr. Rose, ordered that he be remanded to
prison till next term. At the next court he was dis-
charged from custody.
TAVERNS IN 1748.
Benjn. Cooper, Gab. Friend, Daniel Cooper, Anna Elli-
son and Nehemiah Cowgill were licensed to keep
public houses.
1762: John Sparks, John Brien, James Steelman, Jere-
miah Steelman, Sam'l Matlack, Robert Maddox,
Samuel Scull, Peter Risley, Sam'l Wickward, John
Pinyard, Wm. Hugg and Daniel Cooper were licen-
sed as innkeepers for i year.
In 1767 Licenses to Keep Public Houses of Enter-
tainment were granted:
Thos. Thompson, Greenwich. Thos. James, Woolwich.
Henry Sparks, Deptford. Sam'l Snell, Egg Har-
bour. Henry Thorne, Gloucester. Jonathon Aborn,
Gloucester. Wm. Falkner, Newton. Geo. May,
Egg Harbour. Ann Risley, Egg Harbour. James
Steelman, Egg Harbour. Thos. Bacon, Woolwich.
Thos. Bishop, Gloucester. Richard Thorne, Timber
Creek. Wm. Hugg, Gloucester Town.
In 1770 Public House Licenses were issued to:
Wm. Cooper, Samuel Morril, Newton twp. Christopher
Sickler, Robert Mattocks, Jon'n Aborn, Gloucester
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 21
twp. Wm. Hugg, Wm. Gerrard, Gloucester town.
Ann Risley, Samuel Snell, Great Egg Harbour twp.
Mary Hutchenson, Thomas James, Woolwich twp.
Martha Pinyard, Greenwich twp. Benj. Rambo,
Deptford twp. Francis Willson, Waterford twp.
MISSING RECORDS
The Court records for the years 1748 to 1755 are
missing from the bound volumes, but may be loose in one
of the many boxes in the Court House.
ATTORNEYS' COMMISSIONS
1760: Sam'l Allenson having produced to this
Court the Governor's license or commission appointing
him an Attorney at Law in all Courts of Record within
this province and containing a command to all Judges and
Justices to admit him accordingly which being now read
the Court admits the said Samuel Allenson to practice as
an Attorney at Law in this Court in pursuance thereof.
In 1763 Robert Friend Price produced a similar com-
mission appointing him high sheriff of Gloucester Co.
GRAND JURORS FOR 1766
Sept. term 1766 Grand Jury:
Joseph Morgan, James Hendrickson, Chas. French, John
Wallace, Isaac Kay, Sam'l Burrows, John Collins,
Thos. Clark, Hugh Creighton, Samuel Spicer, John
Kay, Peter Covenover, Andrew Steelman, Amos
Haines, Isaac Albertson, Wm. Hampton, Jonathon
Morgan.
1770 INDICTMENTS
In 1770 several men including Zebulon Lock, An-
drew Culling, Andrew Hendrickson, William Bright, John
Munyon were indicted for a "shooting match." They
pleaded guilty and were fined ten shillings each.
22 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
At the same term (June 1770) Luke Rulong was
indicted for killing a deer.
At Sept. term, Savery Gosling was also indicted for
killing deer.
THE WHIPPING POST
As an example of punishment for offences against
the law, the following sentence must have been a sure
guarantee against a repetition of the offence:
"June term 1774
John Sparks, Foreman of Jury
The King versus John Egan. Petty larceny
The Court pronounced judgment that he receive
39 lashes on the bare back on Saturday next the 25th
of June between the hours of four and five in the after-
noon, that he pay his fees and be suffered to depart the
Province and that if ever he comes into the County of
Gloucester he receive the same punishment and as often
as he returns."
REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD, 1776-1782
The last entry in the June 1776 term of Court is
a list of the persons granted tavern licenses, viz. : Wil-
liam Higbee, Benjamin Weatherby, Desire Sparks,
James Cooper, and Robt. Whitacre, together with their
sureties.
Oct. ist, 1776, Sam'l Harrison Judge, Thos. Denny,
George Van Lear and Isaac Kay, Esq. Justices
opened Court "in form"
by a coincidence the first entry is "The following persons
licensed by the Court"
JOHN RAMBO
SIMON SPARKS
WM. ELDREDGE
HUGH CREIGHTON
THOS. JAMES
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 23
In those days, as now, the Judges granted licenses
for the sale of liquors.
The last entry of the King versus a person was a
case against Jonathan Albertson.
The first appearance of a case of the State versus
any one is in the March term, 1777, when Thomas Red-
man and Mark Miller were taken into court and re-
fused to take the oath of fidelity. They were sentenced
to "pay the sum of five shillings a piece" and stand com-
mitted till the fine fees are paid.
DEPTPORD TOWNSHIP OFFICIALS
The Deptford township officers for the year 1779
were:
JEREMIAH PAUL, Clerk
CHARLES FISHER \ ^
c, ,, r Freeholders
SAVIL WILSON J
JOSEPH Low \ Road
JAMES WILKINS / Surveyors
DAVID WOOD
JAMES GIBSON
Road
Overseers
ARTHUR HAMILTON
ISAAC STEPHENS, Assessor
DAVID MORGAN, Collector
JONATHON MORGAN \ Overseers of the
JAMES WOOD J Poor
RANDLE MORGAN
JAMES WILKINS
Commissioners of
Appeal
JOSEPH Low
BENJAMIN WARD, Constable
Jonathan, Randle and David Morgan were brothers
and sons of David Morgan, who died 1759. He was
the progenitor of nearly all of the Morgans of South
Jersey.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
A careful search of the court records of this time
does not show very much pertaining to the excitement
of the war, although several inhabitants of Gloucester
County had their property confiscated because of their
loyalty to the Crown.
The Judges and Justices of the period were undis-
puted patriots.
In 1779, the Judges and Justices of the Court of
Common Pleas and Court of General Sessions were
ISAAC KAY JOHN WILKINS
JOHN SPARKS BODO OTTO
ISAAC TOMUNSON RICHARD SOMERS
ROBERT BROWN JOSEPH HUGG
JOHN SOMERS ROBERT MORSS
THOMAS KENNARD
In December, 1779, twenty-five of the prominent
citizens were fined 30 pounds each for failure to serve
as jurors.
At the end of the Court Minutes of 1776-7-9 is the
inscription "God Save the People."
In 1782, the constables of the various townships
comprising Gloucester County were as follows :
ISAAC Cox,
BARNEY OWENS,
JOHN BATES,
JOSEPH RICE,
WILLIAM BURNET,
JEREMIAH RISLEY
JOSEPH KAMP
JOHN BARNES
FRANCIS ROBINSON
WILLIAM BUZBY
JACOB SPENCER
JOHN SHIVERS
BENJ. COZENS
I
Newton
Gloucester town
Gloucester twp.
Woolwich
Galloway
Egg Harbour
Greenwich
Deptford
Waterford
NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 25
INDICTMENTS
In 1787 the following were indicted for a shooting
match and were discharged because "reasons were not
sufficient:" Andrew Hendrickson, Isaac Locke, Ed-
mund West, John D. Ford, Martin Cox, Enos Eldridge,
Thos. Dunaway, Wm. Denny.
1778 the following were indicted for Horse racing.
Found not guilty: Wm. White, William Hugg, Samuel
Cozens, John Pysant, Edmund West, Elijah Cozens.
FEES
In 1792: Sixteen licenses were granted and for
the first time a license fee appears in the records rang-
ing from 4 to 6 for each tavern.
In 1797 records change from English money to
dollars and cents.
ATTORNEYS
The attorneys who practiced in the Gloucester County
Courts from 1740 to 1764 were Messrs. Price, Jones,
Bustill, Robinson, Evans, Ross, Hartshorne, Mestayer,
Rose; between 1764 and 1776, in addition to some of
those mentioned above, Messrs. Smith, Bard, Kinsey,
Allinson, Trenchard, Lawrence, Reed and Davenport
also appeared as attorneys.
During the Revolution, Attorneys, Messrs. Howell,
Leake, Bloomfield and Read also pleaded before the
Gloucester county courts.
It was a common practice for suits to be submitted
to three men for arbitration, whose report or any two
of them would decide the controversy.
During 1794 and subsequently there was a con-
troversy over an alteration in the road from Haddon-
field to Woodbury.
In 1796 the Managers of the Woodbury Academy
lottery were interested in a law suit.
26
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
OLD FAMILIES
Among the well known families living in and about
Gloucester County during the i8th century were the fol-
lowing :
Borton Bodine Abbott
Townsend Whitaker Cramer
Edwards Lummis Willits
French Carle Robinson
Folwell Rogers Shourds
Morris Newbold Somers
Leeds Ogden Dubois
Van Sant Garwood Davis
Clement Peirson Harris
Garrison Miller Craven
Bilderback Padget Rumsey
Sheppard VanMeter Walker
Mattson Wainwright Webb
Carter Bartlett Darrell
Hancock Hall Bates
Clark Jaquette Steward
Richman Simkins Rose
Trenchard Wade Wright
Prickett Cattell Bowen
Jessup Moffett Lippincott
Kaighn Haines Biddle
Ballinger Collins Steelman
Woods Albertson Cooper
Tomlinson Hedger Hinchman
Burnet Budd Hendrickson
Corson Reeves Coles
Sparks Zanes Vanneman
Burroughs Eastlack Helme
Kirby Carney Cresse
Endicott Stoneback Seeley
Dunlap Ridgway Thomson
Seaman Wescott Mayhew
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
27
Parker
Ireland
Headley
Gauntt
Gaskill
Doughty
Craig
Cavilear
Allen
Chew
Morgan
Dalbo
Ware
Ward
Williams
Hand
Ladd
Howell
Ellis
Robbins
Pharo
Mott
Mathis
Jones
Horner
Gifford
Falkinburg
Cramner
Conkling
Stifle
Blackman
Davenport
Newkirk
Batten
Nixon
Marshall
Randall
Tatem
Mulford
Bateman
Risley
Sharp
LOAN OFFICE.
Peirce
Roberson
Tyler
Sutton
Taylor
Paul
Lord
Hopman
Gibson
Adams
Dunn
Holmes
Whiteall
Spicer
Thackara
Hugg
Hillman
Clark
Sinnickson
Yorke
Among the old records is a book known as the
Ledger of the Gloucester County Loan Office. It begins
in 1786 and ends 1799. One hundred and eighty-nine
different men, well known in the community, borrowed
amounts ranging from 25 to 100 pounds Dec. 5, 1786,
and as a rule paid interest and sometimes instalments
on the principal for a period of ten years.
The Loan Commissioners met at the house of Wm.
Hugg and spent two days examining the title deeds of
the applicants. The loans desired were about double the
amount to be loaned and the Commissioners decided to
put the money out on a 50% proportion.
The total amount loaned was about 8,000 pounds.
28 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
Among the names are Sam'l Risley, Egg Harbor;
John Badcock, Egg Harbor; Richard Collins, Joseph
Sooy, Thomas Clark, Robert Morss, Daniel Leeds,
Amariah Ballinger, Robert Zane, James Russell, John
Lippincott, Henry Ridgway, Richard French, Jeremiah
Adams, Hezekiah Arnold, Richard Steelman, James
Rambo, Jonathan Williams, Nathan Weatherby, John
Porch, Hudson Tomlin, James B. Cooper, Joseph Ellis
and Franklin Davenport.
Old Trinity Church*
At S wedesboro, N. J.
The history of the earliest settlements in Glouces-
ter County is one of those things which has been forever
lost. It naturally has to do with the coming of the
Swedes, in 1634, and with the settlement on Tinicum
Island which lies in the Delaware just off the western
end of the county. With the fertile uplands of the
county so close at hand it seems unreasonable to sup-
pose that the Swedes would have failed to recognize the
wonderful agricultural possibilities of the sandy loam
which lay so near to the Governor's headquarters. The
first actual knowledge of them, however, is concerned
with the arrival of the good ship Kent with the commis-
sioners, John Eldridge and Edmund Warner, to settle
the dispute between Edward Byllinge and John Fenwick.
In August, 1676, they arrived at New Castle, Delaware,
later moving up the Delaware, and finally landing the
passengers at the mouth of Raccoon Creek, where the
Swedes had a settlement years before, only to be aban-
doned as they moved inland to the permanent occupation
of the land which is now Swedesboro and Repaupo.
Among the passengers on board was William White, a
cordwainer, who purchased the land where Swedesboro
now stands. He bequeathed the same to his son, John
White, who later sold it to John Hugg, Jr., of Glouces-
ter River, sometime High Sheriff and later Chief Jus-
tice of Gloucester County. By him the tract was sold
to Trinity Church, which has been in possession of it
since the first day of September, 1703.
The history of the neighborhood naturally centers
around the old church. The deed recites the fact that
* By REV. EDGAR CAMPBEU,.
30 NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
the church was "late erected" and the original survey,
which, with the original deed, is in the possession of the
Church Corporation, shows the church in place "in the
middle of the tract of twenty acres, facing the creek."
There is no record of Indian occupancy, but when one
studies the geology of the neighborhood and finds evi-
dence that a large fresh water lake, lying directly north
of the town, was in existence at the time the King's
Highway was laid out in 1765, for this famous road
just skirted the eastern bank, and that at the sandy head
of this lake, with a wonderfully easy portage from the
creek, are to be found many arrowheads and Indian
utensils, it is easy to surmise that there must have been
a large permanent settlement of the red men there.
What more natural that they should select the slope
at the head of tide water, where two creeks join, for a
burying place, and that the Swedes when they laid their
dead away should have come to the same place, and then
later when they came to erect their church should have
asked for this hallowed spot. At any rate the church was
erected there and from that time, whether before 1700
or afterwards, the history of the community centers for
the greater part in the history of the church.
The first church was of logs, but by the time of the
Revolution, about 75 years later, this was fast going to
ruin, yet around it must have clustered the same hal-
lowed memories that we put around all rural churches.
Here they came for services, to listen to the celebrated
men sent from Sweden, among whom was Peter Kalm,
who named our mountain laurel and in whose honor it
still carries the Latin name, Kalmia. Here they brought
children to be baptized; the lovers came to be married,
and here they sadly laid away their dead. English and
Swedes lived side by side, the Swedish gradually ming-
ling with the English, until 1765, when the English be-
came dominant and they wrote their records in that lan-
guage.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 31
Church yards everywhere tell us much of history.
In the old yard of Trinity Church there are very few
old stones. One is forcibly reminded of the words of
Irving, to be found in Rip Van Winkle. On his re-
turn from the mountain, Rip came to the village tavern
and asked, "Where's Nicholas Vedder?" "There was
silence for a little while, when an old man replied in a
thin, piping voice, 'Nicholas Vedder? Why he is dead
and gone these eighteen years. There was a wooden
tombstone in the churchyard that used to tell about him,
but that's rotten and gone too.' ' It must have been so
here. Occasionally one finds a stone that he feels is
very old, but for the most part the markers are gone.
There is a stone to the memory of Jonas Jones, who
died 1721 ; one for Eli Vanneman, 1722, and then there
are others until we come to Joseph Applin, 1740, a beau-
tifully carved stone, similar to those found in English
churchyards of that period, and which was most likely
brought from England.
What heroes of the Colonial wars lie buried may
not be known. Of the Revolution few names can be of
a certainty recognized. Colonel Robert Brown, of
course, for he was the storekeeper, money lender, and
factotum of the community. Then there was Colonel
Bodo Otto, who was also a physician, whose father was
Washington's surgeon general at Valley Forge. Of
him there is an interesting paper in the vaults of the
church, namely a receipt for medical attendance on Wil-
liam Matson, which was signed April 19, 1775, the very
day the battle of Lexington was fought. Captain John
Daniels and Colonel Heston are also buried here, and
Hester, wife of Captain Samuel Williams. Of privates
there is no record whatsoever. They must have num-
bered twenty to one, compared to the officers, so that we
very likely have fifty of them, most of whom are in un-
marked graves.
32 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
Interesting is the story told of the time when Corn-
wall is marched by, and who knows but the Quaker poet
may have visited the community and there found the
germ of the poem of Barbara Frietsche. The old folks
told of how in marching by the general saw a clergy-
man officiating at a funeral, who from his vestments re-
sembled an English clergyman. He gave orders that
the Church was not to be molested and it was left in
peace. A seeming fairy tale! But we have the grave
of Hester, wife of Captain Samuel Williams, who died
Oct. 1 6, 1777, just three days before Cornwallis marched
by, and there may be truth rather than fiction in the
story.
The British did not always leave the community in
peace. A record in the minute book of the Vestry
under the date of 1778 is as follows:
"The usual vestry meeting on the 3d day of Eas-
ter could not be observed, because of the general
distraction produced by the war. Militia and Con-
tinental troops on one side, and refugees with
British on the other were frequently skirmishing,
and both almost equally distressing the country.
Plundering, marauding, imprisoning, and burning
houses, with other horrid excesses, were frequent
from the beginning of spring til July, when the
British army evacuated Philadelphia. In the morn-
ing of Easter-Sunday, a man who had traded with
the British was tied to a pine near the burying
ground, and cruelly whipped. He died after a
short time. On the 4th day of April, some hundred
of English Marines and refugees came to Swedes-
borough early in the morning to surprise the mili-
tia. Being disappointed they burnt the Schoolhouse,
alleging for a reason that some loyal subjects had
been imprisoned therein some weeks before"
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 33
The present church was built in 1784, and there is
preserved in the vestry room the original subscription
book with the names of all the contributors to the fund
for its erection, and a reading of the names is like a cen-
sus of the community. The list of expenditures is also
given and shows that the total cost of the church was
1310 and 8 shillings. The church as ,it stands to-day
is practically unchanged. There have been some altera-
tions in the interior, but the exterior is exactly as it was
when the Swedes and English left it as completed.
It is interesting to know that Mr. Isaac Vanneman,
grandson of the master mason who built the church,
Isaac Van Neaman (Vanneman), is still living in
Swedesboro.
,.
The Battle of Red Bank*
The attack on, and defence of Fort Mercer, at Red
Bank, on the Delaware River, overlooking League
Island and Fort Mifflin on the Pennsylvania side, was
one of the most glorious battles in the Revolutionary
War. When the Battle of Red Bank is mentioned, many
people confuse it with the Red Bank in Monmouth
County; but historic Red Bank was once the Capital of
Gloucester County, the Courts being held alternately at
Gloucester and Red Bank.
While long ago it ceased to be a judicial town, the
brave deeds of Colonel Greene and his soldiers, and
Commodore Hazlewood and his sailors, in the defence
of Fort Mercer, will rouse enthusiasm and patriotism
for all time.
After the Battle of the Brandy wine, September n,
1777, and the occupation of Philadelphia by the British
army under General Howe, in order to supply his army
it became imperative for General Howe to open the
Delaware River for navigation to Philadelphia. To ac-
complish this it was necessary to capture or destroy the
fortifications at Billingsport, Fort Mifflin on Mud
Island, Fort Mercer, on the Jersey shore near Red Bank,
and pass through, or remove the chevaux-de-frise at
Billingsport, and off Red Bank.
The defence of Fort Mercer, at Red Bank, was
given to two regiments of Varnum's Rhode Island Bri-
gade, under the command of Col's Christopher Greene
and Israel Angell, who were instructed to hold the fort
to the last extremity as the key to the Delaware, and
the pivot on which the success of the campaign depend-
ed. The French engineer, Manduit du Plessis, accom-
panied Greene. The Lieutenant Colonels were Shaw and
* By WALLACE McGsoRGE, M. D.
36 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
Olney; the Majors were Thayer and Ward, and the
Surgeon, Dr. Peter Turner.
Fort Mercer, which had been erected here to support
the left of the upper chevaux-de-frise, sunk in 1776, to
prevent the ascension of the British fleet, was originally
designed for a garrison of twelve or fifteen hundred men.
When Greene took possession of the works, having but
three hundred men, he adopted the suggestion of M.
de Manduit, an experienced French engineer, and threw
out a large part of the fortification on the north, reduc-
ing it to a pentagonal redoubt of convenient size. A
rampart of earth raised to the height of the cordon, a
fosse and an abattis in front of the fosse constituted the
whole strength of the post. The battery numbered four-
teen pieces of artillery of small calibre.
The capture of Fort Mercer was assigned by General
Howe, to Count Carl Emil Kurt von Donop, one of the
most distinguished of the Hessian officers, who had taken
an active part with his regiment in the battle of German-
town, and who was eager for an opportunity to display
his ability as a leader. Howe regarded him as an in-
telligent and bold soldier, and assigned him the three
Grenadier Battalions of Von Minnigerode, Von Lin-
singen and Von Lengererke, Mirbach's Regiment (which
had been ordered up from Wilmington), consisting of
four light companies of chasseurs, including Wangen-
heim's, a dozen cavalrymen, some artillery and two
English howitzers."
Donop recognized the heavy task entrusted to him,
and asked in vain for more artillery, but Howe said that
if Donop could not take the fort, the British would.
Donop was angry at this reply and sent back word that
the Germans had courage to do anything, and to his as-
sociates he said, "Either that will be Fort Donop or I
shall be dead."
On Tuesday, October 21, 1777, Count Donop with
his troops started for Red Bank. To avoid molestation
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 37
by the Yankee vessels in the river, who occupied the
Delaware from Kaighn's Point southward to Red Bank,
it was necessary to cross the Delaware at Cooper's
Point, and take the road leading from that place to Had-
donfield. At that time there were two ferries from
Philadelphia to Cooper's Ferries, as Camden was then
called, one from Market Street to Cooper Street, and
the other from Vine Street, Philadelphia, to Main Street,
Camden. As the river shore between the two ferries
was held by English, Scotch and Hessian regiments, it
was safe for the British hirelings to be ferried over the
river at this point.
When the troops, artillery, horses and baggage had
been ferried over they marched through Main and
Cooper Streets, Camden, to Pine Street, (now called
North Sixth Street), and from thence over the road
leading to Haddonfield. At that time this road was in
some places not much better than a bridle path, and was
not made a turnpike till 1792. They arrived at Haddon-
field Tuesday evening and the soldiers bivouacked in
the fields beyond the village near Hopkins' mill pond.
Count Donop selected John Gill's house for his head-
quarters, and as those families that entertained an of-
ficer were secure against pillage by the Hessians, many
of the inhabitants quickly opened their doors to receive
the Hessian officers. Judge Clement says: "In John
Gill's house Donop had his headquarters, and although
the owner was an elder among Friends, yet the urbanity
and politeness of the German soldier so won upon him,
that he was kindly remembered ever after."
Early Wednesday morning, October 22, preparation
was made to advance on Fort Mercer by way of Mount
Ephraim to the Buck (now Westville) when their scouts
brought them word that the bridge over Timber Creek
at that point was torn up. This necessitated a change
in the route, and securing guides they took the road
from Haddonfield to Clement's Bridge, passing through
144593
38 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
the villages now called Barrington and Runnymede. Be-
fore reaching the latter place, they crossed Beaver
Brook, and then had strenuous work dragging their
cannon up the hill, which is one hundred feet high at
this point. (To make myself thoroughly familiar with
the route the Hessians took, Mrs. McGeorge and I drove
over the entire route a few years ago, and we were par-
ticularly interested in the roads they marched after leav-
ing Haddonfield till they reached Red Bank.)
Crossing Timber Creek at Clement's Bridge, they
proceeded along the road through the hamlet called Cat-
teltown (because so many Cattells lived there), later
known as Basket Town, and now called Wescottville ;
then skirting the edge of the woods, passing by the Cat-
tell Burying Ground, over "Lavender Hill," passing J.
Wood Hannold's and the Johnson farms, across the
Westville and Glassboro Road, past the Knight, Lad-
ner and McGeorge farms, through Ladd's woods and
out through Mann Town, now Park Avenue, across
the King's Highway, now the Woodbury and Glouces-
ter Turnpike, and from thence out what is now called
Hessian avenue, across the Crown Point Road and the
highway from Woodbury to Red Bank, halting on the
edge of the woods, near the fort, arriving there shortly
before noon.
Colonel Donop rode forward and reconnoitered. He
found that he could approach the fort through a thick
woods, on three sides, without hindrance. The fort was
a five-sided earthwork, with a ditch and abattis. It had
at first been constructed on too large a scale, but Mon-
sieur du Plessis de Manduit had reduced the size of the
works. On three sides of the fort the woods afforded
shelter to the besieging party to within a distance of
four hundred yards. On the north side was the Dela-
ware River.
Mickle, in his Reminiscences of Old Gloucester,
says : "On the morning of the twenty-second, the Hes-
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 39
sians arrived at the edge of the forest north of the fort,
almost within cannon shot thereof. Halting them to
rest from the march, Donop sent an officer with a drum-
mer to command Greene to surrender. 'King George/
said the officer, 'directs his rebellious subjects to lay
down their arms and promised no quarter if a battle is
risked.' At which Col. Greene, in command of the
fort, deputized a man to mount the parapet and return
the laconic reply: 'We'll see King George damned
first we want no quarter!' The interview here ter-
minated and the officer returned to the Hessian camp."
Colonel Greene, after making final dispositions of
his men, mounted the ramparts of the fort and inspected
the enemy through his field glass. "Fire low, men," he
said, "They have a broad belt just above the hips. Aim
at that."
On receiving Colonel Greene's answer, Count
Donop hastily threw up intrenchments within half can-
non shot of the fort, and ordered his men to prepare
fascines, (bundles of rods, securely tied together, like
bundles of lath, only larger, or like twelve or fifteen
bean poles in one bundle). These were to be used by his
troops in getting over the abattis and in crossing moats
or ditches. In front of every battalion stood an officer
commanding sappers, and one hundred men with these
fascines which he had made that afternoon in the woods.
The journal of the Grenadier Battalion Von Min-
nigerode says that Donop sent to summon the fort to sur-
render twice, once on first arriving, and once just before
the attack.
Lowell's account of the engagement is as follows :
"Colonel von Donop drew up his little army. Hiis right
flank rested on the river, near which he had placed his
eight three pounders and two howitzers. These were
supported by a battalion of grenadiers and by chasseurs,
who were to defend the flank and rear against troops
disembarking from the shipping in the Delaware. The
4O NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
Hessian line extended the larger part of the way round
the fort on the land side, the attack being made simulta-
neously from north and south. In front of every bat-
talion stood an officer commanding sappers, and one
hundred men with fascines.
"About four o'clock all was ready. Donop then
spoke a few words to his officers, calling on them to be-
have with valor. They all dismounted and drew their
swords, took their places in front of their battalions,
and the attack began. The Hessians charged at double
quick, passed the old disused lines with a cheer, carried
the abbatis, but found themselves embarassed by pitfalls
and by the ditch, which they had not enough fascines
to fill. Three American galleys lying in the river kept up
a ceaseless fire on the Hessian right flank. Some of the
Hessians climbed the ramparts of the main fort. They
were presently beaten back ; Donop was struck by a mus-
ket ball in the hip, and fell mortally wounded. Twenty-
two officers were killed or hurt, including the com-
manders of all the battalions. The Hessians turned and
fled, leaving many of their wounded on the field."
The Hessians had fled, night had fallen and a part
of the garrison came out of the fort to repair the abat-
tis and care for the wounded. Several Hessian grena-
diers were found crouching close under the parapet,
where the balls would go over their heads. The fellows
could not fight without support and feared to run away.
They were taken into the fort.
Von Eelking gives the following account of the bat-
tle:
"Donop placed the eight pound guns and the two
mortars on the right and in support of Minnigerode's
battalion and the Light Infantry, Von Mirbach's regi-
ment in the center, Von Linsingen's battalion on the
left, Von Lengerke's battalion, and some Yagers on the
Delaware to guard against a landing and to protect his
rear. Before each battalion there were sappers and a
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 41
hundred men carrying hastily gathered fascines, led by
a captain.
"Donop, at 4 p. m., sent a summons to surrender
with a threat of no quarter if it was refused, and re-
ceived a reply that the fort would be held to the last
man. As the report was that very few men were seen
in the fort, Donop decided to attack at once, and made
a stirring address, to which the men replied: 'We'll
change the name from Fort Red Bank to Fort Donop,'
and putting himself with his officers, sword in hand, at
the head.
"They charged gallantly, but soon found their road
broken by deep ditches, and could, move only singly;
they were met with a sharp fire in front and flank from
a covered battery and from two vessels in the river. Still
the troops pressed on; Von Minnigerode had taken the
outlying redoubt by storm; the Americans at first gave
way, but soon stood fast, and before their fire Donop
and Minnigerode and many other officers fell, casting
dismay on their men.
"Colonel V. Linsingen succeeded to the command
and did all he could to restore order, but the Hessians
fell back in disorder. Dead and wounded were aban-
doned, and Von Linsingen brought the little remnant
off under cover of the night, and on the next afternoon
reached Philadelphia.
"The fault lay with Howe, who had refused Donop's
request for more artillery, had not supplied the necessary
utensils for a siege not even sending storming ladders
or any means of scaling the walls had taken no means
to learn the nature of the position, and had as usual
shown too little respect for the enemy."
Mickle, from the MSS. notes of a Septuagenarian,
gives the following interesting account of the Battle of
Red Bank :
"At four o'clock in the afternoon Donop opened a
heavy cannonade from a battery which he had erected to
3
42 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
the north-eastward; and at the same time the British
ships from below the chevaux-de-frize began to thunder
upon the little fort. Most of the balls from the latter
fell too low, and entered the bluff beneath the works.
After cannonading for a short time, the Hessians ad-
vanced to the first entrenchment. Finding this aban-
doned, they shouted Victoria! waved their hats, and
rushed into the deserted area before the redoubt; the lit-
tle drummer, before mentioned, heading the onslaught
with a lively march. When the first of the assailants
had come up to the very abattis and were endeavoring to
cut away the branches, the Americans opened a terrible
fire of musketry in front and flank. Death rode in every
volley. So near were the Hessians to the caponiere, or
looped trench which flanked the enemy when they set
upon the main fort, that the wads were blown entirely
through their bodies. The officers leading the attack
fought bravely. Again and again they rallied their men
and brought them to the charge. They were mowed
down like grass, and fell in heaps among the boughs of
the abattis and into the fosse. In the thickest of the
fight Donop was easily distinguished by the marks of his
order and his handsome figure; but even his example
availed nothing. His men, repulsed from the redoubt in
front, made an attack upon the escarpment on the west,
but the fire from the American galleys drove them back
here also with great loss, and at last they flew in much
disorder to the woods, leaving among many other slain
the saucy drummer and his officer.
"Another column made a simultaneous attack upon
the south, and in the technical language of a soldier,
'passed the abattis, traversed the fosse and mounted the
barm;' but they were repulsed at the fraises, and all re-
treated save twenty, who were standing on the barm
against the shelvings of the parapet, under and out of
the way of the guns, whence they were afraid to move.
These were captured by M. de Manduit, who had sallied
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 43
from the fort to repair some palisades. This brave
Frenchman, making another sortie in a few minutes af-
terwards to repair the southern abbatis, heard a voice from
among the heaps of the dead and dying exclaim in Eng-
lish, 'Whoever you are, draw me hence.' This was
Count Donop. M. de Manduit caused him to be carried
into the fort. His hip was broken, but the wound was
not at first considered as mortal. The victorious Ameri-
cans, remembering the insolent message which their cap-
tive had sent them a few hours before, could not withhold
marks of exultation.
" 'Well is it determined/ they asked aloud, 'to
give no quarter?'
" 'I am in your hands,' replied Donop; 'you may
avenge yourselves.' M. de Manduit enjoining the men
in broken English to be generous towards their bleeding
and humble prisoner, the latter said to him, 'you appear
to be a foreigner, sir ; who are you ?'
" 'A French officer,' answered Manduit.
" 'Je suis content,' (I am content) exclaimed the
Count in French, 'je meurs entre les mains de 1'honneur
meme.'* (I die in the hands of honour itself.)
"Donop was taken first to the Whitall house, just be-
low the fort, but was afterwards removed to the resi-
dence of the Lowes, south of Woodbury Creek. He died
three days after the battle, saying to M. de Manduit in
his last moments, 'it is finishing a noble career early;
but I die the victim of my ambition and of the avarice
of my sovereign.' To Col. Clymer he made the remark-
able remark : 'See here, Colonel, see in me the vanity of
all human pride ! I have shone in all the courts of Europe,
and now I am dying here on the banks of the Delaware
in the house of an obscure Quaker.'
"Colonel Donop had been an aide-de-camp of the
Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, his sovereign, with whom he
was a favorite. He was sent to America in 1776, in com-
mand of two companies of Field Yagers. According to
44 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
the records, detachments of the Yagers Corps were con-
cerned in every engagement in which the Hessians took
part. In the attack on the Fort at Red Bank, Donop
commanded in person the centre division, which was
composed of Mirbach's Regiment, and at the head of his
men attacked Fort Mercer on the south side, and crossed
the abattis, before he was shot down. When the Hes-
sians retreated, the Yagers wanted to carry their wound-
ed commander with them, but according to the journal
of the Yagers' Corps, Donop refused to be carried off the
field. After the battle was over, he was carried, wound-
ed and helpless, into the fort he had so set his heart on
capturing. 'He died October 29th, (one week after the
attack) in his thirty-seventh year, and was buried with
military honors. His death was greatly mourned, both
in the army and at home.' Other writers say Donop
died three days after the battle."
Lieut. Colonel Minnigerode, who commanded the
right flank, and whose troops were the first to enter the
abandoned fortifications, was wounded and not killed,
as narrated by some writers. According to the Hes-
sian records, he was wounded at Red Bank, and Games'
New York Gazette of October 25, 1779, says he died at
New York October 16, 1779, two years after the battle
of Red Bank. Captain Wachs and Captain Stendorff, of
his battalion, were also wounded at Red Bank.
Lieut. Colonel Schieck was killed, and Lieut. Ruffer,
of Mirbach's Regiment, was wounded where Colonel
Donop fell.
Lieut. Colonel Linsingen, who commanded the left
flank, and who assumed command when Donop and Min-
nigerode were wounded, lost Lieut. DuBuy, of his bat-
talion, killed, and Captains Von Stamfort, Von Eschwege
and Lieutenants Prodemann and Von Eschen, wounded.
The following officers belonging to Donop's troops
were also killed: Captains Von Brogatzy and Wagner,
Lieutenants Riemann, Von Wurmb, Hille, Von Offen-
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 45
bach and Heymel. The Hessians authorities admit their
loss in killed, wounded and missing to be six hundred
and fifty.
The respected friend to whose MSS. notes we have
before acknowledged our indebtedness, tells us that of
the men under Col. Greene in this action many were
blacks and mulattoes. He was in the fort on the morn-
ing of the twenty-third of October, while the garrison
were burying the slain, and cannot be mistaken as to the
point. His account of the loss agrees with that con-
tained in Ward's letter to Washington, to wit: upon
the American side, from Greene's regiment, two ser-
geants, one fifer and four privates killed, one sergeant
and two privates wounded, and one captain who was
reconnoitering, taken prisoner; from Angell's regiment,
one captain, three sergeants, three rank and file killed,
and one ensign, one sergeant and fifteen privates wound-
ed; and from Capt. Duplessis's company, two privates
wounded. Several of the Americans were killed by the
bursting of one of their cannon, the fragments of which
are yet in the neighborhood.
The Hessians slain were buried in front of the
fosse, south of the fort. The wounded officers were car-
ried to Philadelphia by Manduit, and exchanged. Count
Donop was interred near the spot where he fell, and
a stone placed over him with the inscription: "Here
lies buried Count Donop." The epitaph has ceased to be
true all that was left of the poor Hessian having been
dug up and scattered about as relics.
In conclusion it may not be uninteresting to record
that the journal of the Grenadier Battalion Von Min-
nigerode asserts that Donop had received orders not to
attack the fort until the 23rd, in order to give the
English frigates an opportunity to engage the American
galleys. But as the English frigates actually fell back on
the 23rd, after the Augusta had blown up and the Mer-
46 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY..
lin had been set on fire, it could have made no differ-
ence in the result.
The English account of the attack on Fort Mer-
cer, as sent home by Admiral Howe and published in
the London Chronicle of December 2, 1777, is as fol-
lows:
"The attack of the redoubt (Fort Mercer) being
observed to take place the evening of the 22nd, just be-
fore the close of day, Captain Reynolds (on the Augusta)
immediately slipped (anchor) and advanced with the
squadron (to which the Merlin had been joined) as fast
as he was able with the flood to second the attempt of
the troops which were seen to be very warmly engag-
ed, but the change in the natural course of the river,
caused by the obstructions, appearing to have altered
the channel, the Augusta and Merlin unfortunately
grounded some distance below the second line of chev-
aux-de-frize, and the fresh northwardly wind, which
then prevailed, greatly checking the rising of the tide,
they could not be got afloat on the subsequent flood.
"The diversion was endeavored to be continued by
the frigates, at which the fire of the enemy's gallies was
chiefly pointed for some time. But as the night ad-
vanced, the Hessian detachment having been repulsed,
the firing ceased."
In sailing up the river, "the ship Augusta, together
with the Merlin, grounded during the operation on the
River Delaware, on the 22d October, 1777."
Colonel Bradford's account of the battle at Red
Bank is of interest. This was sent to His Excellency
William Bradford, President of the State of Pennsyl-
vania, at Lancaster, and published in Pennsylvania Ar-
chives, ist series, vol. 5, page 787:
"Count Donop and his force were before the fort
in the afternoon of the 22nd of October, and at a quar-
ter before five o'clock proceeded to attack it with great
spirit. Having carried the outworks against the garri-
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 47
son, his troops had now to storm the interior intrench-
ments. To reach them, as we have said in describing
the fort, the attacking force had to place itself where
it would be exposed to the fire of our vessels. The op-
portunity was not missed by Commodore Hazlewood.
Coming as near as possible to the fort, he sent forth a
universal shower of balls and musket shot on the at-
tacking party. The rest of the history is known to every
one. The assailants retired, but only to find in their
slower and disordered retreat, a still more deadly fire
from the fleet."
In connection with this description of the battle
much interest is centered in Ann Whitall, the heroine of
Red Bank. I will quote what Mrs. McGeorge wrote
about this heroine and her conduct during and after the
battle of Red Bank:
"When Colonel Greene moved out of the Whitall
house into the fort, on October 21, Ann Whitall went
over with her son Job; she at once decided to stay and
put things to rights. Job insisted that she ought at least
go to the nearest neighbors for safety. But she was
obdurate and allowed that if the Lord called her, He
would find her at home; and with beautiful faith re-
minded her son that 'The Lord is strong and mighty
and He will protect me.'
"On that fateful Wednesday, October 22, 1777,
after setting her house in as good order as possible, and
that she might prepare herself for whatever God or-
dained, Ann Cooper Whitall took her spinning wheel to
the southeast room. As that wheel whirled round, the
guns of the British frigates Augusta and Merlin boom-
ed a gamut of threats those of the nearby fort roared
defiant answers and the musketry of besiegers and be-
sieged, mingled with the screams of the wounded, kept
up an incessantly horrible racket. It was terrible! She
resisted the impulse to even look northward, fortifying
48 NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
herself with the thought that by abstaining she was
bearing testimony to Friends' abhorrence of war.
"Then one of the balls went wide of its aim and en-
tered the north gable just below I. A. W., and as if
seeking the old lady it crossed the northeast room, then
the hall, and into the southeast room in which Ann
Whitall sat spinning, where it fell inert. What if more
should follow? She remembered that Providence favors
those who aid themselves, so she carried her wheel out
into the hall ! Oh-h ! what an ugly hole that ball made !
down the open stairway, speedily reaching the cellar
door and made quick descent to the cool depth of the
southeast corner. Here she continued to spin until the
tumult ceased and the battle was over.
"Ann was on hand with bandages that evening
when the injured were brought in; the house was filled,
even the attic was crowded. That night she was an angel
of mercy to the wounded and dying, but when some of
them fretted because of the noise, she reminded them
that they 'must not complain, who had brought it on
themselves.' She administered to their needs, this be-
ing clearly within the line of duty 'to care for the ill
and dying and direct their minds to a solemn considera-
tion of the approaching awful period of life.' '
Colonel Greene then took possession of the house
the dead were interred on the banks south of the stockade
and Ann Whitall returned to her daughter's, Sarah Mat-
lock.
After the evacuation of the fort, on November 20,
1777, the British came and laid waste to everything but
the Whitall house. Although it was not deemed safe
for the family to return to their home on the bluff until
Monday, April 20, 1778, the record in James Whitall's
diary states "after an absence and precarious living for
upward of six months."
Half an hour after sunset the sun set at eleven
minutes after five o'clock that day Lieutenant Colonel
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 49
Linsingen, who by the wounding of Colonel Donop and
Lieutenant Colonel Minnigerode, became the senior of-
ficer, gathered his demoralized force, and beat a hasty
retreat along the Hessian Run Road, as it is called to
this day.
When he arrived at the Junction of the King's
Highway and Park Avenue, in North Woodbury, finding
himself hampered with the wounded, he sent the more
seriously wounded of them into Woodbury, where they
took possession of the Friends' Meeting House on the
crest of the hill and also Deptford School House, on
Delaware Street, now the Public Library building. The
wounded soldiers who died in Woodbury were interred
less than a hundred yards away in the Strangers' Burying
Grounds, nearly opposite Wood Street. Some of the
wounded who recovered did not return to their battal-
ions, but secured work with the farmers in the country.
Linsingen's retreating force became confused in the
darkness when they reached the Clement's Bridge Road,
and some of them continued on across that road to Wes-
cottville till they reached the Almonesson Road and
marched through Almonesson and Mechanicsville, finally
stopping at Blackwoodtown. Others took the right hand
road after crossing Timber Creek at Clement's Bridge,
and brought up at Chew's Landing, but the greater num-
ber kept to the left after crossing the creek and finally
got back to Haddonfield, which they had so proudly left
in the morning. The next day, October 23rd, they made
their way back to Philadelphia, footsore and weary,
thankful to escape from New Jersey.
Mickle says that the Hessians who retreated by way
of Chew's Landing were met by a company of farmer
boys near the Landing and held at bay for some time.
This detachment had with them a brass cannon which
they are supposed to have thrown into Timber Creek, at
Clement's Bridge.
50 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
On October 22, 1829, the old monument at Red
Bank was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies, on the
fifty-second anniversary of the battle. This was of grey
marble. It was not as large or as high as when first
erected and has been abused by vandals and others. The
Gloucester County Historical Society has done what it
could to preserve it from further desecration.
The new monument was erected by the State of
New Jersey and dedicated with appropriate ceremonies,
June 21, 1906, the Governors of Rhode Island, Pennsyl-
vania and New Jersey taking part in the presentation of
the monument.
This land has been conveyed in trust by Congress
to the Board of Freeholders as a public park, to be for-
ever owned and used by the people of our country and to
instill, if possible, a greater love of country among our
citizens.
A Gloucester County Merchant*
No history of Gloucester County would be complete
without mention of Samuel Mickle, who kept a large
general store in Woodbury. His invoice book from the
year 1779 to 1791 contains copies of two hundred and
seventy-one invoices aggregating a large sum of money.
To give some idea of the wholesale prices in Con-
tinental currency during the Revolutionary War (1779)
I copy the following :
S D
i Keg Bohea Tea 28^ Ibs. 304 15 o
i Bbl. Brandy 440 o o
6 Ib. Coffee 20 5 o
6 Ib. Pepper 81 o o
36 Ibs. Tobacco 27 7 6
100 Ibs. Sugar 206 5 o
65 gal. Molasses (i Tierce) 845 o o
i Bushel Salt (fine) 36 o o
Mickle dealt in almost everything, crockery, but-
tons, chemicals, stationery, cutlery, hardware, groceries,
brushes, rum, drygoods, spices, almanacs, Bibles, soaps,
Indian basketry, gun flints, candles, shot, needles and
hundreds of other things.
Among the New Jersey merchants from whom he
purchased goods were Richard Wescoat, at the Forks of
the Little Egg Harbour,
GEORGE PAYNE, Gloucester
ABRAHAM HHXYARD, at Home
JOSH. HOPPER, at Home
WM. BELL, Haddonfield
WM. BROWN, at Home
SAML. SWIFT, at Home
HANNAH KAIGHN, at Home
* By FRANK H. STEWART.
52 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
JAS. NUGENT, at Home
BENJ. WHITALL, at Home
JNO. TATUM,
ABRAHAM HARPER, at Home
GEO. BUDD, Mt. Holly
GEO. BULLOCK, Woodbury
ELISHA CLARK, Woodbury
DEBORAH DAVENPORT, Woodbury
ISAAC COLLINS, Trenton
SOLOMON STANGER, Woodbury
HANNAH MICTAUGH, Indian
NEAL & LAWRENCE, Burlington
FRANCIS STINGER, at Home
EDGEPELEEK INDIANS, at Home
His dealings with Philadelphia merchants and manu-
facturers were very extensive, and because of the fact
that there is no directory of Philadelphia merchants as
far back as 1779 and many of our members now are
Philadelphia merchants and manufacturers, I thought it
might be of great advantage to place on a permanent rec-
ord the names of those who certainly must have supplied
the residents of Old Gloucester with many of the neces-
sities, as well as the frivolities of the i8th century.
The Philadelphia merchants and manufacturers
were:
LEONARD DORSEY ANDREW HOOK
SAMUEL TAYLOR MAHLON HUTCHINSON
FISHER & ROBERTS AMOS WICKERSHAM
JOHN CAMPBELL CHARLES FRENCH
JOB BUTCHER FIELD & THOMPSON
GEORGE GUEST TOWNSEND WHITE
BARNABAS McSnANE .WISTER & ASTON
JNO. MARSHALL & Co. W. & D. SELLERS
HARTSHORNE & LARGE RICHARD SOMERS
FITHIAN STRATTON GEO. HUGHES & Co.
GEO. WILSON ROBT. PARISH
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
53
JOHN HENDERSON & Co.
WHITE & JOSIAH
MATLACK
JOHN SCOTT
ARCHIBALD GARDNER
JACOB BAKER
NATHAN COOK
WRIGHT & BURKHART
SAMUEL HOPKINS
JOHN RALSTON
BENJ. POULTNEY
HALL & SELLERS
THOMAS & DRINKER
GEO. ROBERTS
FIELD & THOMSON
JOHN WILCOCKS
FRIES & CHANCELLOR
WM. FOLWELL
THOS. ROGERS
JOHN MILLER
EvERARD BOLTON
TOWNSEND SPEAKMAN
PAUL BECK, JR.
ELLIS YARNELL
CHRISTOPHER MARSHALL
DR. JNO. MORRIS
SHAW & RUDOLPH
HEWES & ANTHONY
JNO. & WM. MONT-
GOMERY
SAM'L WETHERILL
WM. CALDWELL & Co.
HENRY DRINKER
BENEDICT DORSEY
and many others.
The Township Book of Great Egg Harbor,
Gloucester County, Now Atlantic County*
Beginning probably in March, 1777, and extending to
1817, is still in existence and in possession of Miss Sarah
A. Risley, in whose family it has been for a hundred
years or more. The date is missing from the first page
which is copied herewith, but the second and third pages
bear the year date of 1777. The first page unquestionably
refers to men in the Revolution.
"This Day the Town Committee met at the house
of James Somers, Esq., in order to consult on some
means to support the wives and families of William
Finch or Harris (?) and Younges Mapes who are gone
into the service of this State or of the United States.
Whereas the Committee hath agreed that they shall be
supported and supplied one peck of Rie or corne a week.
Each of them. Also it ordered that Thomas Champen
supply them with one shillings worth of meats or mo-
lasses a piece a week and that James Somers supply
them with the Rie or corne.
"So the Justices and assessors and freeholders Doe
order thirty pounds to be rased for the needs of the
poor.
JAMES SOMERS
JOHN SOMERS, SAMUEL RISLEY
Chairman. JOHN SOMERS
FREDERICK STEELMAN
THOMAS CHAMPAN."
March n, 1777, at a Town meeting held at Great
Egg Harbor, County of Gloucester, the "following of-
ficers are chosen:"
T-V FREDERICK STEELMAN
Freeholders TO T
JOHN SOMERS, JUNER.
* By FRANK H. STEWART.
56 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
Surveyors of JOSEPH MAPES
Roads RECOMPENSE SCULL
Assessor ELIAS SMITH
Collector JOSEPH DOLE
Overseers of ALEXANDER FISH
the Poor THOMAS CHAMPAN
- JOHN SCULL
Overseers of T o
., T> , JOSEPH SCULL
the Roads i _,
JAMES STEELMAN
JOHN SOMERS, SR.
Inspectors JAMES SOMERS
SAM'L RISLEY
~ JOHN ADDAMS
Constables :L
DANIEL STEELMAN
Town Clerk SAMUEL RISLEY
In 1778 John Somers and Noah Smith were free-
holders; Joseph Mapes, Recompense Scull, surveyors;
Elias Smith, assessor; John Scull, Joseph Scull, James
Steelman, overseers of roads; Thomas Chamberlin, col-
lector.
John Conenover and Thomas Thompson, overseers
of the poor; John Somers, Jr., John Somers, Sr., Saml.
Risley, commissioners of appeal.
No record of new township officers appears until the
year 1783, when a full list is again recorded. It is evi-
dent that during the Revolution township business lagged
here, as elsewhere.
Jan'y 8, 1779, 150 pounds was to be raised for the
use of the overseers of the poor of the township.
From 1775 to 1785 are records of the following
named children who were placed as apprentices:
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
57
Apprentices
ENOCH INSELL
ISAAC SCULL
JOSHUA LAKE
HANNAH ADAMS
RICHARD MAPS
ENOCH SHAW
SAMUEL HEX
BENJAMIN HOFMAN
SULVANUS HOFMAN
Masters.
DAVID SAYRS 1775
ABEL SCULL 1786
JOSEPH INGERSOLL 1786
DAVID SOMERS 1785
JAMES DEAL 1784
LEMUEL GARRISON 1785
JAMES ROB ART 1785
PETER FRAMBES 1785
ANDREW FRAMBES 1785
A foot note says these indentures may be seen at
Jas. Steelman at Stevens Creek.
From 1789 to 1792 the
pear:
THOMAS CAMPBELL
ANDREW BLACKMAN
JAPHET IRELAND
THOMAS DOUGHTY
JONATHON RlSLEY
JOSEPH PLUMMER
JAMES BELANGIE
JOHN JEFFRIES
JOHN STUARD
DANIEL LAKE
DANIEL BENEZET, JR.
THOMAS SOMEOR
DANIEL LEEDS
SAMUEL RISLEY and
JUDITH his wife
JOHN WINNER
MARK SCULL
DAVID SCULL, SENR.
NOAH SMITH
RETURN BADCOCK
JAMES NELSON
names of the following ap-
WILLIAM READ
ANDREW GODFREY
DANIEL TILTON
ELLAS SMITH
JOSHUA SMITH
JOHN ENGARSOL
JONATHON BADCOCK
DAVID SAYRS
THOS. CARTWRIGHT
JOSEPH ENGLISH
DANIEL STEELMAN
RICHARD SOMERS and
SOPHIA his wife
RICHARD WESCOAT
SAMUEL ENGLISH
ARTHUR SELLERS
JONATHON JOHNSON
JAMES WEEMS
SARAH SCULL
MARY COVENOVER
SARAH STEELMAN
58 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
RICHARD PRICE JOSEPH BLACKWOOD
JOHN STEWART, JR. TIMOTHY BANDREF
JOHN STEWART, SR. NATH. SIPPLE
WILLIAM BEASTON ELIJAH BARRET
JAMES JEFFRYAS JOSEPH SAWENS
JEREMIAH SMITH THOMAS POWNERS
From a few pages of indemnifying bonds concern-
ing the poor children of Great Egg Harbor twp., we are
able to record the overseers of the poor, also the bonds-
men:
Overseers Bondsmen
Feby
1772 HUGH McCoLLUM EDWARD HIGBEE
AMOS IRELAND EVE SMITH
July
1772 DAVID SAYRS ANDREW CARSON
JACOB SOMERS ISAAC SCULL
AMOS IRELAND JOHN AARONS
ABNER DOUGHTY
1774 JOHN INGERSOLL DAVID SAYRS
JOSEPH SCULL LEMUEL SAYRS
1776 SAMUEL RISLEY GIDEON BADCOCK
JAMES STEELMAN RETURN BADCOCK
Throughout the book, which is very dilapidated,
are several entries regarding stray hogs and cattle.
The reversed rear part of the township book, to the
number of about one hundred pages, is rilled with copies
of Apprenticeship papers carefully made out by the over-
seers of the poor. The first thirty pages are missing, so
that the first of these records now begins in the year
1779 and the last in 1832.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 59
The apprentices, as a usual thing, were to be taught
to read and write, and in some instances arithmetic as
far as the single rule of three.
The amount of wearing material due at the expira-
tion of the contract was always carefully specified, and it
is noticeable as time progressed that the expiration terms
became more favorable for the apprentice. In the later
years a suit of broadcloth, a cow or a heifer was not un-
common.
The principal businesses to be learned were black-
smithing, wheel-wrighting, seamanship, husbandry, house-
work, spinning.
Inn and Tavern Licenses 1 "
In the ancient records of Gloucester County fre-
quent mention is made of road-side taverns. The license
applications showing the signatures of hundreds of the
best known men of their times were examined, and I
copied the application of the Queen of all, Ann Risley,
whose tavern was known far and wide for its generous
and gracious hospitality. The fish, clams, oysters and
crabs of Little Egg Harbour Bay and its tributaries, not
to say anything of the sugar, molasses and rum from the
West Indies made the tavern of Ann Risley known all
over the province. Ann was just as famous in 1770 as
the multi-millionaire hotel owners of Atlantic City are
to-day, and it would be a safe bet to make that her meals
were just as good. Some one should erect a monument
on the site of Ann Risley's tavern. Year after year her
license was renewed. On April 10, 1770, Edward Bowen
and David Scull were her bondsmen for twenty pounds
each, and her application for this year is copied in full.
To the Honourable Bench of the Justices As-
sembled at Gloucester.
Most Honourable Bench
The humble petition of Ann Risley, Widow of
Great Egg Harbour Township, Gloucester County
in the Province of West New Jersey Humbly shew-
eth that your petitioner having kept tavern near
Abesekom Bridge in the said township for several
years past hath thought proper to acquaint your
honours that she hath built her an house with stab-
ling and other conveniences for the entertainment
of travellers thereby doth humbly entreat your
Honours to grant her a license to continue the same,
it being a suitable stage, there being no other within
* By FRANK H. STEWART.
62 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
ten miles and in vindication of the truth of this
likewise of her character several of the principal in-
habitants of said province have thought proper to
set their hands hereunto. Your Honours taking the
same into consideration will oblige your petitioner
to ever pray. ANN Rl& ^
ROBERT MORSS JOHN INGERSOL
OBADIAH REID JOHN LEEDS
JOHN SOMERS FELIX LEEDS
FREDERICK STEELMAN HENRY SMITH
JOHN KAID or REID? DANIEL LEEDS
GEORGE PAYNE NEHEMIAH LEEDS
JOSEPH COVENOVER RICHARD COLLINS
BENJAMIN BRUSH JOHN SOMERS
BURNET RICHARDS JOHN COVENOVER, JUN'R
RICHARD WESTCOT RICHARD SOMERS
ABNER DOUGHTY MICAJAH SMITH
LEVI GENSLY? DANIEL SMITH
THOMAS CHAMBERLAIN HUGH McCoLLOM
James Steelman also kept a place of entertainment
in his house in the lower end of Gloucester Co. (now At-
lantic) for several years. His application for a license
for the year 1770 was signed by
RECOMPENSE SCULL ELISHA SMITH
FREDERICK STEELMAN NEHEMIAH LEEDS
JOSEPH INGERSOL CHRISTOPHER LUCAS
RICHARD SOMERS DANIEL LAKE
Archibald Moffett, later a Captain of Militia during
the Revolution, and the owner of a fleet of boats carrying
merchandise from Carpenter's Landing to Philadelphia,
via Mantua Creek, and at his death the most extensive
land owner in Gloucester County and the ancestor of
over five hundred living descendants, including a couple
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 63
of our own members, kept a licensed tavern at his house
in Greenwich Township. His 1770 license application is
signed by
SAMUEL SHIVERS JOHN WEST?
MICHAELL FISHER, JUN'R Jo HUGG
JOHN BARNES WILLIAM TOMLIN
RESTORE ESTLACK S. BLACKWOOD
During the War of 1812, when 82 years old, his
house was used as a recruiting station by the U. S.
His bond dated June 19, 1770, is signed by Daniel
Cozens and Jo Hugg.
Mary Hutchinson was also granted a license to keep
a tavern at the house where she lived in Woolwich town-
ship. Her application was signed by
JOHN MAYHEW ABRAHAM NELSON
WILLIAM MORGAN BODO OTTO
STANFORD MAYHEW MATTHEW NIEWKIRK
JACOB ELWELL ISAAC FLANNINGHAM
DAVID DuBois ISAAC ALBERTSON
MICHAEL RICH MAN S. BLACKWOOD
Her bondsmen were James Budd and Thomas West.
Joseph Tatem was also an Inn keeper, and he was
granted a license for his house in Deptford Township in
1767. Those who signed his application were:
JAMES WARD SAMUEL FLANNINGHAM
JOHN SPARKS* JOSEPH WARD
ISAAC BALLENGER BENJAMAN RAMBO
WILLIAM HARRISON LUKE GIBSON
CALEB BEEKHAM ABRAHAM CHATTIN?
SAMUEL PERCE SIMON SPARKS
JAMES BROWN JOHN DUELL
WILLIAM FLANNINGHAM JONATHON MORGAN**
* Ancestor of Chairman of our Membership Committee.
** Ancestor of our Historian.
Slavery in Old Gloucester*
Slavery existed here as elsewhere in New Jersey, but
there is plenty of evidence to show that many of the
slave owners were opposed to it.
In a dilapidated book in the basement vault of the
Gloucester County Court House, at Woodbury, is a rec-
ord of a few of the slaves who were freed.
According to this book it was somewhat of a for-
mality to free a slave. The owner would appear with
the slave before two of the overseers of the township
and two of the Justices of the Peace, who would ex-
amine the slave for soundness of mind and body and age,
to determine capacity for self support. The names of
most of the slaves were fanciful or Biblical, such as
Ishmael, Levi, Jeremiah, Aaron, Roger, Tab, Flora,
Violet, Rintha, Phillis, Boston, Coffee, Tabby, etc., etc.
There were a few slaves in New Jersey at the out-
break of the Civil War, and it is not unlikely that some
of them were owned in the confines of Old Gloucester.
The first record in the Manumission Book is John
Gill, ST., who freed a slave on Nov. 23, 1787.
Joseph Hugg, March 26, 1788.
Lize Smith late Price, widow of Robert Friend Price,
Esq., Blanche Price, Hannah Albert late Price and Mary
Price, freed a slave May 24, 1788.
Hannah Wilkins, late Hannah Matlack, widow of
Joseph, freed one on Dec. 7, 1789.
Amy Hunter, Jan'y 6, 1791.
Hugh Creighton, Apr. 18, 1791.
David Cooper and Samuel Allinson, on Dec. 27,
1774 freed a negro woman named Catherine, and her
five children born on various dates ranging from 1758
to 1772.
* By FRANK H. STEWART.
66 NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
The following persons also set slaves free on the
dates mentioned:
Joseph Bates, Aug. 12, 1791.
Joseph Hugg and Elizabeth Hugg, Dec. i, 1789.
Susannah Taylor, Oct. 22, 1789.
James Hurley, Jan. 3, 1782.
John Gill, May 31, 1792.
Jacob Stokes, May 31, 1792.
Edward Gibbs, Aug. 30, 1792.
Marmaduke Cooper, Dec. 17, 1792.
Joseph Hugg, July 16, 1793.
David Davis and Rachel his wife, March 25, 1794.
Thomas Wilkins, June 9, 1794.
Joseph Cooper, Dec. 15, 1796.
Elizabeth Room and Barzilla Room, July 17, 1795.
William Eldredge, July 29, 1791.
Susannah Taylor, Oct. n, 1791.
Thomas Carpenter, March 2, 1792.
Thomas Clark, July 4, 1800.
Joseph Hugg, Esq., Apr. 4, 1800.
Abigail Ellis, John Blackwood and Samuel Ellis,
Administrators of the estate of Joseph Ellis, dec'd Aug.
20, 1801.
Henry Roe, Aug. 14, 1801
Elisha Clark, June 20, 1802.
Isaac Mickle, April 14, 1803.
James B. Caldwell and Solomon Combs, Dec. 3,
1803.
Elisha Clark, acting Execr. of Elijah Clark, Dec'd,
Dec. 6, 1802.
Randall Sparks, Execr. of John Sparks, Esq., Dec'd
Mar. 30, 1804.
Samuel W. Harrison, Sept. 8, 1804.
Joseph Hugg and Elizabeth Hugg, Dec. i, 1790.
James Stratton, June 23, 1806.
John and Jacob Stokes, Execrs. of Jacob Stokes,
May 14, 1805.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 67
Beulah Graisebury, widow of James, Oct. 3, 1807.
Abigail Stokes, widow of Jacob, Oct. 3, 1807.
James Hurley, Dec. 24, 1807.
Henry Wood, Nov. 18, 1807.
John Browning, June 3, 1809.
Wm. Hugg, Aug. 4, 1812.
Stuard Beatty, Sept. 28, 1812.
The slave record book is apparently very incomplete
because it will be noticed that some of the freedom papers
were not recorded until several years after they were
granted. Any one interested in the question of slavery
should search the unrecorded papers that number thou-
sands and are stowed away in fifty large boxes in the
Court House Building, covering a period of over two
hundred years.
MILESTONE ON KING'S HIGHWAY
FROM A PHOTO BY REV. EDGAR CAMPBELL
"The King's Highway"
About 1 68 1 the General Assembly at Burlington
passed an act to survey and set forth a public highway
between Amboy and Burlington and thence to Salem,
along the Indian trail through the primeval forest. This
was destined to become a very important highway, as
it was laid six rods, or about one hundred feet wide, and
connected the capitals of East and West Jersey, Amboy
and Burlington, and long before the advent of railroads
it was a much traveled thorofare between New York and
Philadelphia. When my father, Amos J. Peaslee, was
a boy, he lived near Bordentown (1825) and enjoyed
going to that place to see the stage coaches arrive from
New York and transfer passengers to boats for Phila-
delphia. From Burlington, the Highway was laid
through Mt. Holly, Moorestown, Haddonfield, passing
near the home of Elizabeth Haddon, for whom the place
was named, thence on to Timber creek, which it crossed
on a bridge a little further up stream than the present
structure, thence through Westville on to Woodbury,
crossing that creek a little below Broad street, near the
home of ex-Surrogate Livermore, on through Woodbury
diverging a little from Broad street. At the south
end of the town it passed over line of present road to
Mantua, until near the toll-gate, where it took south-
westerly course by way of Parkville Station to Mantua
Creek crossing the same beside the present bridge.
John Pierson, born 1805, who lived to be a little over
one hundred years old, told the writer he had traveled
the old road when a boy, with his father. The road was
straightened to its present course in 1812. In doing so,
* By GIDEON PEASLEE.
70 NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
they desired to locate the bridge over Mantua Creek a
little further down stream, to make the route more di-
rect from Mantua Grove to Mount Royal, or Berkley, or
Sandtown, as it was then called, but found it so difficult
to secure a proper foundation, they erected the new
bridge beside the old structure, so the depression on the
east of the present roadway and immediately beside it
marks the line of the "King's Highway." After crossing
Mantua Creek and looking to the northwest, about one
half mile distance, on the old Tatum, now Jacob Nolte,
farm can be seen, according to a Pennsylvania botanist,
the largest oak tree within one hundred and fifty miles of
Philadelphia. Measurement in 1905 six feet from the
ground a circumference of twenty-five feet two inches,
height ninety feet, spread of branches one hundred and
sixteen feet ; near this tree the great emancipator first saw
light. An account of his life states that father Tatum
fixed up an old hen house for a temporary dwelling for
his daughter located near the Great Oak, as it was
then called and in it Isaac Tatum Hopper was born in
the year 1770. Passing through Mount Royal, in which
place is an old graveyard, neatly enclosed by wall, which
belongs to the Episcopal Church in 1770 a church was
erected here where the congregation worshiped until the
present house in Clarksboro was built. One Thomas
Clark, was a very prominent member of the old con-
gregation. Passing through Mount Royal, where the
railroad to Salem intersects the stone road, stands an
old stone dwelling that in those days was used for a
hotel, which they called "The Death of the Fox." A
fox was once killed in a clump of bushes just south of
the building, where the sportsmen in those days sallied
forth astride a horse, accompanied by a dog and gun, in
quest of the wary animal. Who first reached the victim
and secured the coveted brush, with which he decorated
his hat, hastened to the old Inn, where he was soon
surrounded by his fellow hunters who assembled there
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 71
to lubricate their exhausted muscles and joints before
disbanding from the chase.
The friends of "John Barleycorn" were no better
prohibitionists then than they are now. In those days,
was a well in the middle of the "Highway," with a road
passing on either side of the pump, which brought forth
very good water much used to refresh man and beast
wearied from traveling the sandy roads then so prev-
alent. A shed was attached to the north end of the
hotel, under which was located a pump which drew water
from the well through a pipe. When the gravel turn-
pike was built, in 1852, the wooden pump was drawn
out and a large stone capped the well. The writer re-
members the old stick lying beside the road when he
was a boy. Passing through Clarksboro the "Highway"
was shaded at Mickleton with a fine large old oak
measured in 1912 circumference, six feet from ground,
17 feet 4 inches; height, 91 feet; spread of branches, a
little less than 100 feet it was damaged by a leaky
gas pipe and taken down in 1914. Nearby stands the old
Friends' meeting, erected in 1798 in place of one located
near Solomon's Graveyard, destroyed by fire. The pres-
ent site was donated by Samuel Mickle and Samuel Ton-
kin. Prom the gallery of the house the writer has heard
William Haines give many good sermons. His son,
William P. Haines, called the "fighting Quaker" be-
cause he went with a New Jersey regiment to the Civil
War, here delivered a very interesting address about the
"old oak," which he published with a good picture of the
old landmark. He spoke of the Quaker founder of
Pennsylvania halting under its branches when riding to
Salem on horse back. Cornwallis's men have rested here
after their labor of burning the old Tonkin House, just
below, so you see, the fine tree sheltered friend and foe
under its branches. The home of Tonkin was in the
south of Mickleton ; place now occupied by John C. Heri-
tage. The fine old stone house is quite a historic build-
72 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
ing, having been burned twice. During the Revolution
the farm was occupied by Bodo Otto. A member of his
family was surgeon in charge of a hospital at Valley
Forge. The house was burned either in the fall of 1777
or summer of 1778 by the British; it was burned by acci-
dent some years later, and rebuilt in 1819.
Edward Tonkin, who succeeded his uncle, Samuel
Tonkin, in the ownership of the farm, took great inter-
est in and soon began to raise some exceptionally fine
cattle. About 1835 we began to hear talk of two un-
usually large and fine oxen. The "Big Cattle" were
heralded far and wide statesmen, governors, congress-
men and persons of all classes came to view and admire
them. An English nobleman passing through Philadel-
phia came down to see them and told Mr. Tonkin he
was interested in cattle raising in England, yet he had
never seen any oxen to equal them. The old Salem mail
stage often halted and gave the passengers fifteen or
twenty minutes to look at them. It was not unusual to
see six or eight carriages standing by the wayside while
the occupants were admiring the cattle. One winter's
Sunday, the sleighing being excellent, the visitors began
to arrive early in the morning and continued in crowds
the entire day; a member of the family kept an account;
the number was over 1,000. Mr. Tonkin employed an
Englishman, Thomas Pacy, to take care of them. The
currycomb and brush were used on them daily. An
excavation was made in the ground about three feet deep,
sloped at one end and roofed over; into this they were
allowed to go, to be protected from the extreme heat of
summer. In February, 1838, they were sold to a firm
in Washington for the sum of $3,500. On the 24th of
February, 1838, a huge box, built on four wagons, passed
up the road, and every one living on the road for miles
knew that the "Big Cattle" were to be taken away. This
box was built by Messrs. Reeve, at Alloway, who took
the measurements of the covered bridges to insure the
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 73
passage through them. The hindermost wheels of the
wagons were lowered somewhat, by excavating the
ground, so as to lessen the incline of the bridge by which
they were driven into the box. The box had a partition
which was put in place when the first one had entered.
Twenty horses and mules were used to haul them to
Camden, where they arrived late in the afternoon, and
found the tide so low they could not be put on the boat.
This story was narrated by the late Daniel L. Pine, on
April 13, 1903, in the writer's hearing: A pilot, then
living, told him that Sunday morning, February 25, he
saw them hauled to R. R. Ferry at the foot of Bridge
Avenue, and placed on the steamer "State Rights," and
landed at the foot of Walnut Street, Philadelphia. This
was a boat especially constructed to carry the railroad
passengers in the early days of the old Camden and
Amboy R. R., and was the only ferry boat whose gang-
way was wide enough to admit of two wagons abreast.
Once in Philadelphia, the horses were taken away and
the wagons moved by men grasping a rope after the old
manner of handling fire engines. One was taken to
Washington and slaughtered; the other, after being ex-
hibited in several cities, was taken to New Orleans and
killed. Their weights were 3,750 and 3,800 pounds.
Just below the Tonkin's farm the "Highway" took
a southeasterly course to avoid Craft's Hill, passing by
the places now occupied by John G. Roberts, Walter
Heritage, back of Theodore Brown's, by the house of
his grandfather, John Brown, on to Swedesboro, passing
very near the home of former Governor Stratton
crossing Raccoon Creek a little north of the present
bridge there are persons who believe it passed the oppo-
site end of the old Episcopal Church but I have been
unable to find any record of such course ; passing through
Swedesboro it took the Sharptown route on through
that village, then to Salem.
Many large old oaks can be seen from this traveled
5
74 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
"Highway"; not the least of these was the fine old
Monarch, still standing near the road's terminus in
Friends' Graveyard, Salem, N. J. Measurements, by
Joseph B. Livezey, in 1905, circumference at the earth,
twenty-eight feet three inches; spread of branches, one
hundred and eighteen feet four inches. There is much
speculation as to the age of these old trees ; the last one
mentioned must have seemed very ancient to Robert J.
Burdette, who told a whole audience in Salem the tree
was four years older than the Atlantic Ocean, and no
one seemed to question his authority for the statement.
Several old mile stones have been resurrected near
Swedesboro and reset along the present road marked
respectively "18, 19, 20 miles to Coop's Fy. S.," at the
top bottom of the stone, "to Salem 1773." A portion
of the distance indicated must have been measured on
the "Kings Road," which started at Cooper's Ferry and
intersected the "Highway" near Westville.
Many have heard the oft told romance said to
have occurred along the Old Highway, between Park-
ville R. R. Station and Mantua Creek. In Elizabeth
Haddon's hospitable home many English Friends were
entertained, who felt concerned to come to this coun-
try on religious visits. Upon this important occasion, a
company of Friends started from Haddonfield on horse-
back to attend meeting in Salem. In passing through
the ravine, which is still visible just south of Parkville
Station, her saddle girth became loose (?) accidentally.
She called upon John Estaugh, a young minister in the
party, to adjust it. After the others had passed on and
they were alone, she took the opportunity to tell him
she believed the Lord had sent him to this country to be
a life companion for her. It took the young man rather
unawares. He told her the Lord had commissioned him
to perform an extensive religious visit and could not give
her proposition much attention until that service was
accomplished. After performing the religious visits, he
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 75
returned; their marriage resulted in 1702, and they lived
happily together until his death, in 1742. About 1744
she wrote some account of the life and religious labors
of John Estaugh, published by one Benjamin Franklin,
a printer in Philadelphia. I saw in Haddonfield recently
a copy of the publication.
Samuel M. Janney in his "Memoirs of Friends"
says of Elizabeth Haddon: "Her father having lands in
New Jersey, proposed to settle upon them and sent
persons to make suitable plans for their reception, but
being prevented from coming, his daughter Elizabeth,
then a maiden less than twenty years of age, came over,
with her father's consent, and fixed the habitation where
he proposed to have done. She was endowed with good
natural ability, which being sanctified by divine grace,
rendered her eminently serviceable as a benefactor of
the poor, a sympathizer of the afflicted and an influen-
tial member of religious society."
Clarksboro, N. J., Jan. 25, 1917.
The Moravian Church*
At Oldmans Creek, Gloucester County, N. J.
The early history of a religious movement is largely
the personal history of those who founded it. No factor
enters more largely into the establishment of any new
movement than the personality of those who promote
it.
Especially is this true in religious work. One has
but to look at the characters of John Knox, Martin
Luther, Menno Simon, George Fox and John Wesley,
leaders of what might be termed the more modern move-
ments in the religious world, to see that this is un-
doubtedly true.
The wonderful personality of these men made pos-
sible the great movements which have influenced the world
from their time till now, and no doubt will still roll on
with greater or less velocity as the years shall come and
go. Most every leader has some peculiar mannerisms
which may attract a few, and some are enveloped in a
perfect cloud of mysticism which allures many, but the
masses demand something more than these to fasten
their affection; they want to feel that convincing in-
fluence of sincerity before they yield their obedience.
Strikingly true was this the case in regards to the
founder of Herrnhutism, or what is more commonly
called, the Moravians. Nicholaus Ludwig, Count von
Zinzendorf and Pattendorf, was born at Dresden, May
26, 1700. His early education was cared for by his
grandmother, we are told, and at the age of ten years
he was sent to Halle, where he spent six years under the
special care of Francke, the philanthropist. At this early
age, it is said, he began to form a design to gather to-
g-ether a little society of believers among whom he might
*By GEO. B. MACALTIONER.
78 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
live and who should entirely devote themselves in exer-
cises of devotion under his personal direction.
Having become a priest, he travelled during the
years of 1719 to 1721, through Holland and France,
everywhere endeavoring to convert the distinguished
persons whom he met to his own religious views.
Upon his return to Dresden he was appointed a
member of the Saxon State Council, but as political life
was not to his liking he returned to his country seat in
Upper Lusatia, settling at Bertholdorf.
Finding a student in whom he found sentiments
akin to his own, he gave him the curacy of his estate.
Bertholdorf soon came to be known for this sort of
piety. While residing here he accidentally met a wan-
dering carpenter named Christian David, a member of
the old sect of Moravian Brethren, who told him of the
persecutions of his brethren. The Moravians were an
Evangelical Society which had its beginning in Bohemia
among the followers of that noble martyr, John Huss,
who was burned at the stake in 1415, originally known
as the Bohemian Brethren. With the granting of the
Bohemian charter, in 1609, they obtained a legal status,
but afterwards were suppressed and exiled. Their
growth in Hungary gained some importance, but at the
peace of Westphalia, Austrian lands were excluded from
religious liberty and their Polish parishes were gradually
absorbed by other Protestant bodies. Still the seed re-
mained in Bohemia, and their Bishop, Johann Amos
Comenius, republished their history and confession, and
endeavored to reestablish its discipline. A revival of
religion in Moravia led the awakened to abandon their
homes and go to Saxony for religious liberty.
According to Le Long, Christian David had been
in Saxony before and he induced two or three families
to migrate there.- The Count received them gladly at
Bertholdorf. They built their first house in the woods,
in 1722, and soon a large number from Moravia and
elsewhere had fixed their residence there.
NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 79
In a few years it became quite a village, having an
Orphan house and other public buildings, so that in 1732
the inhabitants numbered 600 souls.
An adjacent hill gave the colonists a name for the
place, Huth des Herrns or Herrnhuth, "The guardian
or protection of the Lord."
They soon established the discipline of Comenius,
which bound them closely with an entire dependency on
their superiors.
The Society was divided into separate classes, with
a director over each. The Count did not permit the so-
ciety to expand, as other churches do, nor did he require
its members to sever their relations with the State
Church. His purpose was more especially to establish an
exclusive system by which it was desired to secure a
membership solely of converted men and women.
A great portion of their worship consisted in sing-
ing, which they highly developed, the Count having writ-
ten many of their hymns. The casting of lots was prac-
ticed much among them, they making use of the same to
know the will of the Lord. The Elders had the sole
right of marriage, and no promise was valid without
their consent.
One great feature of their work was that of mis-
sions, extending all over the world. As early as 1733
they had a mission in Labrador, which continued till
1900, when they transferred it to the Danish Lutheran
Church. While they had a ritual, free prayers were al-
lowed in public worship.
Every ten years a general synod was held, and every
detail of their work was thoroughly gone into. In the
year of 1735 the Moravians emigrated to Georgia, and
five years later found them in Pennsylvania, where they
built Bethlehem and Nazareth.
The Count was the motive power of the whole So-
ciety, the dynamo that ran the whole machinery. At the
synod held at Marienborn, Germany, near Frankfort-on-
8o NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
the-Main, in November, 1739, news was received of the
destitute condition of the Swedish Churches on the Dela-
ware. A band of evangelists was at once commissioned
to go to Pennsylvania. The Count soon followed the
brethren to America, arriving 1 in New York December
2, 1741, and on to Philadelphia by December loth.
In the year following several companies of emi-
grants came to America that had formed a church gov-
ernment that should be observed during the long, tedious
voyage at sea. These were known as the Sea Congrega-
tions, the first of which arrived in Philadelphia, June,
1742, consisting of 56 members. Among this number
was one, Paul Daniel Bryzelius, who was to inaugurate
the work in New Jersey. He had been schooled in the
college at Upsala, in Sweden, and was ordained at Frank-
ford, Pennsylvania, January 4, 1742-3, as a Presbyter
by Bishop David Nitchman, according to the orders of
Count Zinzendorf, just before he left for home. He
was commissioned by the Count for special service in
New Jersey.
The Moravian Church in New Jersey found its be-
ginning at this time, owing to the fact that the Swedish
churches were pastorless and the German Lutheran
Church, at Friesburg, neglected. The condition in the
Swedish Churches was brought about by the govern-
ment of Sweden withdrawing its financial support from
the Colonial churches on the Delaware. They had ex-
pended over $100,000 in trying to establish the State
Church in New Sweden, and after a century's effort
found that little real progress was being made. They
therefore withheld their annual appropriation. This
angered many of the members, causing them to stop
paying into the church treasury, and absenting themselves
from the services. The priests soon found their liveli-
hood was not assured, and several of them returned to
Sweden. John Dylander, the pastor at Wicacoa, died,
and as no new ministers were coming over, there re-
NOTES ON OivD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 81
mained but one Swedish minister in the country, Prevost
Tranberg, at Christine. Tranberg had been the pastor
at Raccoon (Swedesboro, N. J.) and Perm's Neck (St.
Georges), and at a parish meeting told the brethren how
poor his support had been, and if it was not improved
he would be forced to leave.
The conditions remained unchanged, whereupon
Tranberg applied for a transfer from the Raccoon Parish,
which Royal Commission was granted to him and he
removed to Christine (Wilmington, Del), after having
been their pastor 15 years. This left the New Jersey
churches pastorless. On January 13, 1742-3, Paul
Daniel Bryzelius travelled directly to Prevost Tranberg,
at Christine, and proposed to supply the need for very
little salary. Prevost Tranberg accorded him a hearty
welcome, and gave him charge of three Swedish churches
and one German Lutheran, at Friesburg, or Chohansey,
which was neglected, having been built there in 1738,
near the Glasshouse. The Swedish churches were at
Maurice River, Raccoon and Penns Neck, Bryzelius
preached his first sermon in the house of Goran Hyn, at
Maurice River, with acceptance, on January 26, 1742-3.
From Raccoon he received a call from 33 members, and
thither moved his family. For almost a year he served
the parish to the satisfaction of the majority of the peo-
ple, but when Magistrar Naesman, the pastor at Wicocoa,
came down on December 23, 1743, having but recently
come from Sweden, he proceeded to rid the church of
Bryzelius. This created an uproar, disturbing the peace,
whereupon the Governor landed a number of men in
jail. As this was a religious, and not a civil affair, the
matter was referred to a jury of 25 men, whereupon
the court advised Bryzelius, for the sake of peace, to
refrain from preaching longer at Raccoon.
In the interim between the rumpus and the decision
of the court, the Society of Friends offered Bryzelius their
house of worship which was near, which he accepted and
82 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
there gathered larger congregations than ever. In 1744
Laurence T. Nyberg, with his Moravian followers, were
shut out of the German church at Lancaster, Pa. The
followers of Bryzelius sent to Nyberg and asked him to
send them Abraham Reinecke, who came in the spring of
1745, and gathered large audiences, holding services in
the house of Thomas Denny, at Raccoon. Reinecke
brought with him an evangelist by the name of Sense-
man. They came from Bethlehem and were met at
Philadelphia by Peter Rambo, who conducted them to
Raccoon. Nyberg took charge of the work in New Jer-
sey. He was a man of great resources and enlisted the
services of energetic evangelists to help him. Among
the men who itinerated through New Jersey were Sven
Rosen, Thomas Yarrel, an Englishman, Owen Rice,
Mathew Reutz, who died at Oldmans Creek while preach-
ing there on October 7, 1753, Joseph Powell and many
others. The efforts of these men were not to proselyte,
but to lead men to Christ.
Of all the many preaching stations in New Jersey
where services were held, but four seemed to have taken
on any semblance of church formation. Maurice River,
with which Bryzelius was identified in erecting, located
about 3 miles from Leesburg, was dedicated December
1 8, 1746, in the presence of Reinecke, Rice, Rentz and
Nyberg; Penns Neck was dedicated j ust one year later,
December 18, 1747; the church at Raccoon, in March,
1748, with 24 members, and the church at Pilesgrove,
as it was sometimes called.
The Church at Pilesgrove, Oldmans Creek, or
Woolwich, was begun in 1747, by Laurence T. Nyberg,
and dedicated by Bushop Spangenberg and Pastor Ny-
berg, on August 3ist, 1749. I have before me a com-
munication from D. Jos. H. Muller, archiver, dated
Herrnhut, Saxony, December 4, 1906, in which he in-
forms me that among the "Spangenberg Papers" he
found letters concerning his visits to New Jersey, and
NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 83
one especially, a 1 2-page manuscript, in which Brother
Nyberg states that "on August 31, 1749, I accompanied
Bishop Spangenberg to consecrate the new Swedish
church at Pilesgrove, or Oldmans Creek, in the Jerseys."
The membership at this time numbered 29, among whom
were the following: George Avis, Nicholas Dahlberg
and wife, Charles Dorsan, Andrew Holstein, Lawrence
Holstein, Sr., and his son Lawrence, Jr., Larse Hop-
man, Michael Kett, Mons Kyn, Peter Lauterbach, Adam
Lehberger, Saml. Lynch, Christopher Linmyer, Bate-
man Lloyd, Obediah Lloyd, Alexander Mueller, John
Roalin Samson a slave, Garret Van Immen and wife,
John Van Immen and wife, William Van Immen and
wife, Andrew Van Immen and wife, Jechoniah Wood
and Jeremiah Wood. This church was destined to have
the longest life of all the Moravian Churches in New
Jersey. It was built on the farm of George Avis, which
lay between two branches of Oldmans Creek, along the
King's Highway. Tradition says that the ground to
build the church on was given by George Avis, and also
a large quantity of lumber. Later, when the congrega-
tion had grown, Bishop Seidel, of Bethlehem, Pennsyl-
vania, bought of George Avis and his wife Jane, Janu-
ary 22, 1767, one and one-half acres of land on the
King's Highway, for 5 's.
The following year there was an extensive awaken-
ing among the people, and at the Synod held at Lititz,
Pa. (1768), this congregation applied for recognition as
an integral factor among the brethren. The petition was
granted, whereupon a change in pastors took place, and
Frederick Schmidt was in 1769 appointed pastor. The
membership was now 120.
The church prior to this time was under the con-
trol of the Mission Board. Pastor Schmidt served the
church through that trying time of the Revolutionary
War, from 1769 to 1783. In 1775 the parsonage was re-
built. Pastor Schmidt's diary furnishes some very inter-
84 NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
esting facts about the war and affairs as they then ex-
isted:
"On Friday, Dec 5, 1777, twenty American militia-
men were quartered in the parsonage."
"On Feb. 25, 1778, over 2,000 English troops
passed on their way to Salem. The house was full of
soldiers, polite, but carried off all the rifles and arms
they could find."
"Feb. 26, 1778. The garrison left for Bethlehem,
having been here several months. The neighbors talk of
flight. Myself and wife have determined to remain."
"May 10, 1778. Many militiamen at church."
"June 12, 1778. A skirmish took place near here
between the English and the militiamen. One of the lat-
ter was killed."
"Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, 1778. Bishop Ettwein came
and visited the church."
"Nov. 29, 1778. Several persons from Salem at-
tended services. They complained that the bridges were
destroyed by warfare."
The membership at the close of the war was 134,
with one exception the largest in its history.
In 1783 the Rev. Francis Bohlen came as pastor,
and in a report dated June n, 1786, sent to the confer-
ence, he states "that the meetings are well attended by
Presbyterians, Methodists and Quakers. Twenty chil-
dren are in the Sabbath School, and a beginning has
been made towards the erection of a new meeting house."
The church had been reorganized by order of
Bishop Jan Von Waterville, son-in-law of Count Zinzen-
dorf, in 1785, and in the following spring the present
brick edifice was begun. The old church was built of
logs and was about 24 feet square, sheathed inside, with
scanty furnishings. As one looks at this ancient building
he will notice the striking resemblance it bears to other
churches built during this same period. The church at
Swedesboro was built in 1784. The Friends' Meeting
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 85
House, at Woodstown, in 1785, and this structure here
at Oldmans Creek in 1786, all bear the same stamp and
style.
From 1793 to 1798 Rev. Frederick Moehring was
pastor, but the congregation began to fall off. I am in-
formed by Dr. John W. Jordan, of the Pennsylvania
Historical Society, that the cause lay largely in the fact
that Moravians persisted in holding their services in the
foreign tongues, and the young people thereby fell away.
From 1798 to 1800 the church was without a pastor.
Rev. Saml. Towle served in 1801 and 1802, and
Pastor John Casper Treytag, from 1802 to 1803. This
was the last settled pastor the Moravians had.
In 1807 the Methodists were allowed to worship here
until they were forced away, and went and built the
Pilesgrove Methodist Church, a short distance away.
In 1834 the Episcopalians asked for the use of the
building and it was granted them, since which time they
have spent much effort and money to maintain the
services in this place. This Moravian Church was the
last one in New Jersey, until the modern Moravians were
established.
One cannot leave this intensely interesting study of
this once active theatre of religious work without re-
ferring to that which still remains. Where once the
tread of hurrying feet was heard as they wended their
anxious way to the worship of the Lord, silence now per-
vades the scene, and it is only broken by an occasional
visitor who comes perchance to see the old landmark or
read the epitaphs upon the markers of the silent city of
the dead.
Here in this sweet spot of earth, rich with the mem-
ories of the past, lie buried the noble men and women
who stood for right and who defended our homes and
gave to the nation its power to be born, and to us a home
for which we feel the deepest gratitude. As we linger
in the shadow of these moss covered walls, as if in hope-
86 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
ful fancy we might hear the echo of those wonderful
words of life that fell from the lips of those ancient sol-
diers of the cross, there comes floating to us on the wings
of the past those inspiring words of the leader and
founder of these ancient soldiers, Zinzendorf, 1721 :
Jesus, still lead on,
Till our rest be won;
And although the way be cheerless,
We will follow, calm and fearless ;
Guide us by thy hand
To our Fatherland.
The Gloucester County Board of Freeholders*
FIRST RECORD BOOK OP PROCEEDINGS BEGINS IN 1701.
The first volume of the Minutes of the Board is
bound in leather, in a fair state of preservation, and is
marked Book A., on outside cover, in a bold, plain hand,
the color of the ink being still very black, and is now in
the custody of the Gloucester County Board of Free-
holders.
On the first page, entries appear as follows:
1701.
"Glo. County, December 7th, Anno Domini, One
Thousand Seven Hundred and One."
"The Grand Jury held at Gloucester ye 6th day of
First Month, Anno Domini, 1701, does order that Thomas
Sharp and John Wood, Treasurers of ye last County
Taxes, do bring in an accompt to the next Grand Jury
of ye disposal of ye sayd taxes, in order to know what
remaynes in Bank."
On the second, third, fourth and fifth pages, under
dates from 1694 to 1706, there appear accounts with
Andrew Robeson, Thomas Sharp, John Ashbrook, Wil-
liam Wardner, John Kay and John Wood, for Taxes in
the Townships of Newton, Waterford, Gloucester, Dept-
ford and Greenwich.
The first regular entry of minutes is under date of
July 1 3th, 1704. This record is as follows:
TAX ORDERED.
"We, the Grand Jury for ye Court, held at Glouces-
ter, the 1 3th day of Seventh Mo., 1704, do order a tax
* By GEORGE E. PIERSON.
88 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
to be levied, in manner following, for the discharge of a
debt to ye Sheriff, John Shay, and other emergencies, re-
lating to this County of Gloucester, and ye remaining part
or overplus to be assessed by ye Grand Jury: For each
100 acres of land, surveyed and taken up, sixpence; for
each horse and mare exceeding one year old, six pence;
for neat cattle exceeding one year old, three pence; for
sheep exceeding one year old, one pence; for each free-
man in hired service, or otherwise, one shilling and six
pence; for each negro exceeding twelve years old, one
shilling and six pence, to be paid in a month's time, after
ye old tax is all got in. Out of which tax we allow
twelve pounds and ten shillings to be paid John Shay for
defraying the expenses of the Justices of Gaol Delivery
the last Court, and for his trouble for going to Burling-
ton about the County's business."
LORD CORNBURY VISITS GLOUCESTER.
On December 19, 1704, this record appears:
"We, the Grand Jury for the County of Gloucester,
do order eighteen shillings to buy twelve bushels of char-
coal for the prisoners, and two pounds two shillings to
buy three match coats for the prisoners' use, so long as
shall have occasion for it, and then to be returned for
the County's use. We allow seven shillings and six
pence to the Clerk for five warrants to gather the above
tax. We allow Matthew Medcalfe twelve pounds six
shillings for defraying the Lord Cornbury's retinue's ex-
penses when he was lately at Gloucester, and six shillings
to John Gideon for a coffin for the murthered child, and
six shillings more we allow him by discount of his old
tax in the year 1694, for bringing the Justice and Coroner
to Gloucester. We also allow eight pounds twelve shil-
lings and four pence to John Shay, for defraying the
Lord Cornbury and his attendants' expenses when he
was lately at Gloucester."
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 89
On January ist, 1705, a pair of stocks was ordered
built before next Court, and "Matthew Medcalfe had
undertaken to get them to be built."
On September I2th, 1705, five pounds was ordered
paid the Sheriff for prison charges, and Matthew Med-
calfe to procure twenty bushels of charcoal, and two
shifts for the prisoners' use.
Under the same date, this record appears :
"We, the Grand Jury for the County of Gloucester,
having taken into our consideration the great expenses
that our Assemblymen are at, and have been hitherto and
mostly at their own charges, and likewise that they want
money for the defraying of some debts, on necessary oc-
casions for the County's use, do order a tax to be levied,
and that our Assemblymen for time to come, be paid for
every day that they shall serve in Assembly, each of them,
five shillings per day, and the rest to be appropriated as
the Bench and Grany Jury shall direct."
The tax was levied in the same manner as the pre-
vious assessment had been made. Matthew Medcalfe
was nominated and appointed County Treasurer, and
Collectors were appointed for Waterford, Newton, Glou-
cester, Deptford, Greenwich and Egg Harbor Town-
ships.
EARLY ACCOUNTS.
On January 12, 1706, this minute is recorded:
"We, the Grand Jury of the County, having called
John Reading and Matthew Medcalfe to make up their
accounts concerning the County's money that was raised
in the year 1694, and paid them to build the Prison and
Court House, and they affirm that they did formerly
make up and balance accounts with the Grand Jury, at
Gloucester, and think it hard to be called to account now
over again, and Thomas Sharp being now one of the
Grand Jury, affirms that he was then on the Grand Jury
some years ago, when the said John Reading and Mat-
6
90 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
thew Medcalfe made up and balanced account with the
Grand Jury."
"The Grand Jury orders John Kay and John Heri-
tage on behalf of his father, to bring their Duplicates of
the County Tax that was raised in the year 1694, and
make up their accounts with the next Grand Jury which
shall be at Gloucester."
COST OF KEEPING PRISONERS I SECRETARY BASS COMES
FROM BURLINGTON.
On January 12, 1705, allowance was made John
Shay, late Sheriff, 2 shillings and 6 pence per week for
keeping prisoners 123^ weeks, which amounts to 15
pounds, 1 1 shillings and 3 pence. Whereof he has been
paid 5 pounds, and the remainder being 10 pounds, n
shillings and 3 pence, with 2 shillings and 6 pence for
care of the prisoners; Ordered paid by Thomas Sharp
and John Kay, Treasurer and Collector of the old County
Tax, if there be so much in their hands, at or before the
next County Court; if not, then by Matthew Medcalfe,
present Treasurer. Secretary Bass was allowed 40
shillings for his services to the County for coming from
Burlington to qualify the Justices.
On February 2, 1707, an allowance was made "John
Ashbrook, Sheriff, for eight pounds, six shillings and
seven pence for keeping of the prisoner, Christian Boll,
60 weeks, and procuring her one shift, a pair of socks,
and one petty coat, to be paid by the Treasurer of the
County, if there be so much in his hands after the As-
semblymen are paid; if not, then out of the County Tax
is now raised."
PAY FOR MEMBERS OF ASSEMBLY.
On April 2, 1707, "We, the Grand Jury of the
County of Gloucester, do order Matthew Medcalfe,
County Treasurer, to pay our Assemblymen each of them
NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 91
five shillings per day, for each day that they have served
in Assembly, since the I2th day of September, Anno
Domini 1705, as soon as they shall bring the accounts
under the Clerk of Assembly's hand." A tax levied at
this meeting provided that it should be paid the County
Treasurer, "in money or Country produce, at the prices
following, viz: Wheat, 4 shillings 6 pence per bushel;
rye, at 3 shillings per bu., and Indian corn at 2 shillings
6 pence per bu. ; to be delivered and brought into the
County Treasurer, Medcalfe, at his dwelling house by the
respective inhabitants, within the date of September ist."
The Treasurer was allowed six pounds, with his reason-
able charges, in receiving and paying off the corn, etc.
ADDITION TO COURTHOUSE.
At a meeting held August 3, 1708, the Grand Jury
met at Gloucester to consider emergencies, concluded it
was "necessary that an addition be made to the Prison
and Court House, in manner following, viz: that it be
joyned to the south end of the old one, to be made of
stone and brick, 12 foot in the clear, and two story high,
with a stack of chimneys, joyning to the old house, and
that it be uniform from ye foundation to the Court
House."
1708 TAXES.
To effect this improvement, these taxes were levied :
For every 100 acres of land taken up and surveyed, one
shilling; for every horse and mare above 3 years, one
shilling ; for neat cattle exceeding 3 years, six pence ; for
sheep exceeding I year, two pence; for hired service or
otherwise, three shillings; for each negro exceeding 12
years, 3 shillings; to be paid in current silver money,
corn, or any other country produce.
At a meeting held January 14, 1710, the death of
Matthew Medcalfe, County Treasurer, was announced,
and Thomas Sharp was appointed in his place.
92 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
At a meeting held October 17, 1712, it was ordered
that Joseph Cooper and Thomas Sharp undertake the let-
ting out of the work of an addition to the Prison and
Court House, according to the dimensions given by the
Grand Jury, in the 8th month, 1708, with the concur-
rence of the Bench.
There is a statement from Thomas Sharp, for re-
ceiving the tax laid for the building of an addition to the
Prison and Court House, of Matthew Medcalfe, who was
first appointed for the service. The amount was 32
pounds 17 shillings and 7 pence, leaving a balance in his
hands of 7 pounds, 7 shillings and 10 pence. Only about
7 pounds 3 shillings and 4 pence seem to have been ex-
pended for Prison, on this statement. The entries of
receipts ran from February 2, 1711, to January 25, 1714,
and the disbursements from May 20, 1712, to April 21,
NAMES OF JUSTICES AND FREEHOLDERS.
Prior to 1715, the public business of the County
seems to have been transacted by the Grand Jury. After
that year, the Justices of the Peace and Freeholders ap-
pear as the governing body, as is shown from the recorded
minutes under date of April 5, 1715. For the first time
the names of the Justices and Freeholders are given as
follows :
Justices Richard Bull, John Inskeep, George Law-
rence, John Rambo, Joseph Tomlinson, not present, yet
consents.
Freeholders John Kaighn, Peter Long, John Ladd,
Jacob Clement, Joseph Cooper, Jacobus Culin, John
Shivers.
BOUNTY FOR WOLVES, PANTHERS AND FOXES.
NEW JAIL.
This minute appears of record :
"We, the Justices and Freeholders, as above named,
do unanimously order, conclude and agree that there shall
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 93
be raised on the inhabitants of this County of Gloucester,
proportionably after the same manner as the tax for the
support of Her Majesty's Government, for two years last,
and to walk by the Rules of the Lists already in the Col-
lector's hands, according to proportion, viz: Eighty
pounds for building a Prison and repairing the Court
House, and fifteen pounds for wolves, panthers and red
foxes ; and that for ye assessing and collecting the sums
aforesaid, there is hereby appointed Thomas Sharp and
Samuel Ladd, Assessors for the respective Townships of
the County aforesaid, which said Assessors shall meet at
Gloucester, on or before the eleventh of this instant to
assess the inhabitants, according to the above mentioned
proportion, and make fair lists of the said assessments,
and deliver the same to the Collectors undernamed, at or
before the fifteenth day of this month, which Collectors
shall deliver a copy thereof to ye Constables of each Town
or Precinct who is hereby required, immediately on receipt
hereof, to give notice to the several inhabitants within
their respective districts of the sums they are to pay, which
sums shall be payable to the Collector or Collectors, at or
before the Fourth Tuesday so called in May next, which
Collectors are Peter Long and Jacob Clement for ye
County. And upon non-payment, then the Collector is
hereby required to deliver a list of the delinquents to any
one Justice of the Peace of said County, who is hereby
required forthwith to issue his own warrant or warrants
to the several Constables, commanding them to levy the
same by distress on ye Goods and Chattels of each delin-
quent, and expose the same to sale to pay theyor respective
sums to the Collector or Collectors, at or before the third
Tuesday so called in June next, and pay the overplus, if
any be, to the owner, deducting twelve pence for himself
for each distress, and six pence to the Justice for the war-
rant.
"And we appoint Thomas Sharp and Joseph Cooper to
be Managers to see and cause to be done the work follow-
94 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
ing, viz : To build a Gaol Twenty- four foot long in the
clear and fifteen foot broad in the clear, and the wall in
the full height from the foundation nine foot high and two
foot thick, well done with good mortar of lime and sand ;
and to lay the upper and under floors with the planks of
the old prison; to make a good roof to it and necessary
doors and windows; and to remove the Court House
where the new Prison is to stand, and repair the same
as shall be needful."
These minutes are signed by Thomas Sharp, Clerk.
A meeting was held at Gloucester, on the Fourth Tues-
day in March, 1716, pursuant to an act of Assembly, en-
titled "An act for raising of money for the building of
Gaols and Court Houses." There were present the fol-
lowing :
Justices John Kay, John Hugg, John Mickle, Con-
stantine Wood, Samuel Ward.
Freeholders Samuel Coles, John Inskeep, Joseph
Cooper, Jr., William Albertson, Joseph Tomlinson, John
Hillman, George Ward, James Lord, James Holm, John
Friend, William Harrison, Abraham Albertson.
Clerk Thomas Sharp.
The Managers for the erection of Prison and Court
House asked to be relieved, and John Hugg, John Mickle
and William Albertson were appointed in their place.
On March 26, 1717, a meeting was held, with the
following present :
Justices John Kay, John Hugg, John Mickle, Con-
stantine Wood.
Freeholders John Inskeep, Samuel Coles, Joseph
Cooper, Jr., William Albertson, John Hillman, William
Harrison, Abraham Albertson, Henry Wood, John
Rambo.
Clerk Thomas Sharp.
At this meeting the Managers reported that they
had expended toward the building of the Prison, so far
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 95
as it was done, the sum of fifty-three pounds five shillings
and seven pence, and that there was a balance from the
one hundred pounds levied in the last two years of forty-
six pounds fourteen shillings and five pence. John Hugg
and William Albertson were appointed to complete the
work and to build a stone stairs at the east end. In order
to assist in the expense they were empowered to sell the
old Court House and Prison for the best price they could
get.
TIMBER CREEK BRIDGE REBUILT.
Constantine Wood and William Harrison were ap-
pointed Managers to rebuild Great Timber Creek Bridge,
and to make it in breadth from outside to outside eleven
feet, the sleepers and camp sills to be made of good white
oak.
On the 25th of March, 1718, the following were
present :
Justices John Kay, John Hugg, John Mickle, Amos
Athead, Constantine Wood.
Freeholders Samuel Coles, Samuel Harrison,
Thomas Sharp, William Albertson, Abraham Albertson,
Joseph Tomlinson, John Ashbrook, John Cooper, Robert
Lord.
Clerk Thomas Sharp.
It was reported that nineteen pounds sixteen shil-
lings and nine pence more had been expended than tax had
been laid, by the Managers of Timber Creek Bridge, and
it was allowed from the taxes laid for the Prison and
Court House. It was ordered that 80 pounds be levied for
the perfection of the Prison and Court House, and 20
pounds for killing wolves, panthers and red foxes, and
when the money is come in Managers shall be chosen to
carry on the work.
UNSATISFACTORY PRISON.
At another meeting "it was put to vote whether the
Prison, as it is now built, being defective, should stand, or
96 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
be pulled down; it was carried by ye majority of votes to
be pulled down."
"It is further concluded by this meeting, since there
is not money enough already raised for the building and
finishing the Prison and Court House, that there be levied
on the inhabitants of this County, the sum of one hundred
pounds, to be assessed and laid upon them according to
law, and the Assessors meet at Gloucester to perform their
service the twenty-first day of the second month, and at
that time they be furnished with the lists of the taxable
estates of ye people, in order to lay every man's part
justly, and that it be payde into ye Government Collector,
for the time being, by the first day of the Sixth Month
next.
"Abraham Porter and William Harrison are ap-
pointed Managers to agree with workmen and perform
work aforesaid, according as it is hereafter expected, as
it was formerly agreed at this meeting.
"The Trustees of Egg Harbor Township, neglecting
appearance, are fined."
CONTRACT AND SPECIFICATIONS FOR COURT HOUSE AND
PRISON.
At a meeting held the 131)1 day of the Second Month,
1719, this minute appears of record :
"This meeting agreeth with Abraham Porter and
William Harrison, the Managers appointed by the same,
that they undertake and appoint workmen for the build-
ing and fully finishing the Court House and Prison, ac-
cording as it is underwritten in particulars, and that they
fully finish and perfect the same, by the first day of the
Sixth Month next, under the penalty of fifty pounds each,
and that for the doing thereof this meeting agrees that
they shall have the sum of one hundred and seventy
pounds paid them by the County Collector of the County
for the time being, viz. : One-third at the beginning of
NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 97
the work; one-third at the finishing of the roof, and the
other third on the full finishing, if it be in the Collector's
hands, and that they are not to have the sum the law
directs being concluded, and it is fully allowed in the
sum above said." At the same meeting, "Also it is agreed
that the Prison as it is now built being defective, shall be
pulled down to ye lower floor, and rebuilt upon the same
foundation with good fresh lime and sand to ye same
hight it now is with corner chimneys at each end, and bar-
red with iron in each funnel to prevent escapes; a parti-
tion in ye middle of three inch plank, as also a house of
office, to each prison, made in the manner of a well, with
brick six foot deep, and boarded together with a port at ye
entrance with a second door into ye prison for the better
security."
"A Court House built upon it of well burnt brick,
a brick and a half thick, well laid in good lime and sand,
nine foot in the height, a pair of substantial stone stairs,
at ye east end, made of hewn stone, four foot long,
with a peddiment over them ; two transom windows on ye
south side, a casement in each window, the lights agree-
able to ye building; one of the same kind on ye north
side and a casement ; a large folding door case and doors
with lights over it, at the head of the stairs, for an en-
trance; the walls of the Court House well plastered and
whitewashed; the lower floor of the Court House well
joyned and planked upon them, and a floor of inch boards
well planed and nailed down upon them ; the floor above
ye Joyces of pine planed on both sides with inch boards ;
a pair of stairs up in the garret, and a window in each
gable end, well roofed and shingled, and to jut over a foot
on each side and to be considerably set off under the
eaves; a Gallery at the west end from side to side, well
railed, with stairs at each end; a Table and Bar below,
railed that it may sufficiently accommodate the Justices,
Clerk, Attorneys and Jurors; also to find glass, nails,
iron work, locks, hinges, and to finish the whole building
98 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
as is convenient and suitable to such a work, and that
all the timber, except boards and ye upper Joyce of the
Court House, be good white oak.
MISCELLANEOUS BUSINESS.
At a meeting held at Gloucester, on the 5th day of
the Second Month, 1720, these Justices and Freeholders
were present :
Justices John Kay, John Hugg, John Mickle,
Ashead.
Freeholders Samuel Harrison, Thomas Stokes,
Joseph Cooper, Thomas Sharp, Abraham Porter, John
Ashbrook, John Siddon, William Harrison, Robert Lord,
Richard Chew, Peter Long.
At this meeting Ann Ware was allowed five pounds
for her trouble in keeping, nursing and burial of Mary
Lorman.
Abraham Porter was allowed four pounds for laying
the lower floor of the Prison.
Amos Ashead, Coroner of ye County, was allowed
four pounds ten shillings for taking of eight inquests,
where nothing was to be had to satisfy the charges and
trouble.
WHIPPING POST, STOCKS.
It was agreed that a pair of substantial stocks be
built near the Prison, with a Post at each end, well fixed
and flattened with a handcuff iron at one of them for a
whipping post.
OLD COURT HOUSE AND PRISON SOLD.
"This meeting doth sell unto William Harrison the
old Prison and Court House, for the sum of eight pounds,
which he promises to pay into the hands of Thomas
Sharp, within the space of three months, there to be made
use of for ye County's service."
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 99
Thomas Sharp, Clerk, was allowed one pound for his
services, and the Justices and Freeholders three shillings
per day for their services to the County. The expenses,
at the meeting of the Board, were also ordered paid by
the County.
TOWNSHIPS AND THEIR FREEHOLDERS.
In the minutes of the meeting on the 8th day of the
First Mo., 1721, the names of the Freeholders first appear
from the respective Townships. There were present as
follows :
Justices John Hugg, John Mickle, Amos Ashead.
Freeholders Waterford, Joseph Bate; Newton,
Joseph Cooper, Jr., William Cooper; Gloucester, John
Hugg, Abraham Porter ; Gloucester Town, William Har-
rison, Francis Jones; Deptford, Richard Chew; Green-
wich, Peter Long, Edward Eglington; Egg Harbor,
Daniel Ireland.
BOOK FOR RECORDING DEEDS ORDERED.
At this meeting it was ordered that 50 pounds be
raised towards the destroying of wolves, panthers and
red foxes, a Recording Book for Deeds, &c., and to pro-
duce as many Constable's Staves as wanted, together with
the new painting of the old ; ones, and for any other
emergencies which shall be thought good.
COURT HOUSE BELL ORDERED ; IRONS FOR PRISONERS.
At a meeting held Third Mo. 3Oth, 1721, this record
appears :
"A proposal being made forasmuch as an incon-
venience being found for want of something to apprise
the people of the time of the sitting of the Courts, from
time to time, that a Bell be erected over the Roof of the
Court House, with something to cover it. Thomas Sharp
ioo NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
is disposed to purchase the same, when money comes in-
to his hands, and get it hung and perfected, the price not
to exceed eight pounds."
The Sheriff was allowed one pound and eleven shil-
lings on account of Irons and putting them on prisoners,
and "that he take special care of them for the same
service as occasion requires."
PARLIAMENTARY RULES.
The Rules or Orders of the Board are given as fol-
lows:
"No person to speak without standing up and direct-
ing his speech to the Chief Justice.
"No person to speak above twice to one matter un-
less leave be first obtained.
"No person to interrupt while another is speaking.
"The forfeiture in the breach of any of them, six
pounds."
DEATH PENALTY ENFORCED.
At a meeting held November i, 1721, an allowance
was made to the Sheriff for executing James Moore, his
Horse, Saddle and Brass Pistol, and for executing Chris-
tian Boll, alias Logan, and other fees, nine pounds and
eight shillings. Other expenses were paid Joseph Hugg
for charge of Christian Boll, and drink for , &c.,
twenty-one pounds, 19 shillings and six pence; Samuel
Coles, for expenses about handcuffs and other expenses
in pursuing and taking James Moore, 6 pounds, and David
Jamison, Chief Justice, for Court services, ten pounds.
TAX LEVIED.
At this meeting it was ordered that eighty pounds
be raised for above expenses, and other emergencies. The
manner of raising this money is described as follows :
"Every ioo acres of land, that's tilled, seven pounds ;
all horned cattle, horses and mares two years old, and up-
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 101
wards, one pound per head; all sheep at three shillings
per head ; laboring men who work for hire, three shillings
per head ; all servants male in either white or black above
sixteen years old, shall be nine pence, and that those
whose taxable estate does not amount to one shilling,
shall, notwithstanding, pay one shilling, save laboring
men who work for hire, shall not be excused under three
shillings. John Kay's Grist Mill, four shillings; George
Ward's Grist Mill, John Brown's Fulling Mill, six shil-
lings; Samuel Ward's Saw Mill, two shillings; Richard
Valentine's Saw Mill, four shillings; Egg Harbor Mill,
three shillings; Stephen Mullica's Grist Mill, one shilling;
Town Lots in Gloucester, one shilling and six pence;
Gloucester Ferry, fifteen shillings; William Cooper's
Ferry, seven shillings and six pence."
At a meeting held on the 27th day of the First
Month, 1722, the following named Justices and Free-
holders were named as members:
Justices John Kay, Samuel Ward, Thomas Spicer.
Freeholders Waterford, Thomas Spicer, John Ins-
keep; Newton, John Hillman, Benjamin Thackara;
Gloucester, John Ashbrook, William Shay; Gloucester
Town, William Harrison, Francis Jones; Deptford, Con-
stantine Wood, Richard Chew; Greenwich, Edward
Eglington, Richard Brickham; Egg Harbor, Gustavus
Fish, Samuel Harem.
Benjamin Thackara, Richard Brickham, Gustavus
Fish and Samuel Harem did not attend.
Thomas Sharp was chosen Clerk, at a salary of one
pound for his service.
FREEHOLDERS FINED.
This record appears in the minutes of this meeting :
"Whereas, by a Minute of this Board, held the thir-
teenth day of the Second Month, Anno Domini 1719,
Abraham Porter and William Harrison were appointed
io2 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
Managers for ye Building ye Prison and Court House,
under the penalty of fifty pounds each, in ye non-perform-
ance of the same, which they at ye time consented and
agreed to, being ye members of the same body, and the
work as yet lying and not completed, ordered that Thomas
Sharp, if they neglect ye perfecting of it, by the twenty-
eighth of ye Third Month next, shall prosecute them, the
said Managers, for their deficit upon that account; or
otherwise a prosecution shall be proceeded in against ye
said Thomas Sharp for paying ye third and last payment
before it became due."
It was ordered that Thomas Sharp shall get a table
with a bench on each side over in the Court House, to ac-
commodate a Jury as occasion shall require.
This action was taken by the Board :
"Whereas, Benjamin Thackara, Richard Brickham,
Gustavus Fish and Samuel Harem, members of this
Board, did not make their appearance here this day to
join in the business of the County, therefore they are
hereby fined the sum of twenty shillings per man, and
ordered that Thomas Sharp give the delinquents aforesaid
notice of it that they make their appearance at the time of
adjournment, and to bring in their fines at that time to
save further trouble and charge."
These fines were remitted at the next meeting, on
reasonable excuses being rendered for their absence.
At a meeting held on the 5th day of the Fourth
Month, 1722, these persons were present:
Justices John Kay, John Hugg, Samuel Ward.
Freeholders Waterford, Thomas Spicer, John Ins-
keep; Newton, John Hillman, Benjamin Thackara; Glou-
cester Tp., John Ashbrook, William Sharp; Gloucester
Town, William Harrison, Francis Jones ; Deptford, Con-
stantine Wood, Richard Chew; Greenwich, Richard
Brickham; Egg Harbor, Gustavus Fish, Samuel Harem.
At this meeting this record appears in the proceed-
ings:
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 103
"Whereas, Debate hath arisen what should make a
certain division in any matter or thing- that might arise in
debate before the meeting of Justices and Freeholders,
the conclusion of this meeting is that two of the three
Justices, one being of the quota, together with a majority
of the Freeholders, shall be sufficient to confirm any mat-
ter that may be thought necessary to be done."
STOLEN HORSE RETURNED TO OWNER.
At a meeting held the I3th day of the Ninth Mo.,
it being put to vote whether the horse that was stolen by
David Drury should be forfeited to the King, or to be re-
turned to the owner, agreed that the owner have him.
SUMMARY OF PROCEEDINGS.
From the foregoing records it appears that the first
Court House and Jail was erected in 1694. A new Court
House and Jail was evidently practically completed in
1720, as the old Court House and Jail was ordered sold
to William Harrison, at the meeting held February 5,
1720, for eight pounds. A later minute in 1722 seems to
indicate, however, that the buildings were not entirely
completed to the satisfaction of the Freeholders. The
principal public expenditures during the period covered
by these minutes seem to have reference to the building
of the second Court House and Jail, and the repairs and
rebuilding of Great Timber Creek Bridge, with minor
expenditures for the destruction of wolves, panthers and
red foxes, &c. It is very evident that many slaves were
owned by these early inhabitants, as they seem to be one
of the sources depended on for taxation.
Notes from the Record Book of the Board of Chosen
Freeholders above, cover a period from 1701 to 1722.
Subsequent proceedings covered about the same nature of
business as before recorded.
IO4 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
WILD BEASTS KILLED.
On the 1 2th day of May, 1726, Joseph Cooper, Jr.,
County Collector, produced to the Justices and Free-
holders 29 certificates for wolves' and panthers' heads,
and for whelps of wolves, which amount to 21 pounds
and 15 shillings; also 27 certificates for fox heads, which
amount to 2 pounds and 14 shillings.
In the minutes of December n, 1733, this record
appears :
"The Board orders Ann Wheeldon one pound eigh-
teen shillings for the expense of the sitting of this Board,
which was paid in presence of the said Justices and Free-
holders, and she received the same, but refused to give
receipt on request."
On May 8, 1734, it was ordered that a pair of stocks
and whipping post be erected at Gloucester, before the
prison windows, and Timothy Matlack be appointed to
build it.
At the same meeting it was ordered that the square
whereon the Court House stands be laid out, and the
bounds thereof be ascertained, and the persons appointed
to see it laid out be Joseph Cooper, Thomas Spicer, Timo-
thy Matlack and John Hinchman, and that they get a sur-
veyor as they think proper, and that they get it done
before the next Court, and bring in the charge thereof to
the next sitting of this Board. At a meeting held May
12, 1736, the same order was given, and on June 1 1. 1736,
John Hinchman was ordered paid one pound twelve shill-
ings and eleven pence for the laying out of the square.
WATCH AND WORK HOUSE.
On June 15, 1736, the Board ordered a Yard and
Watch House and also a Work House be built and erected
before the front of the prison at Gloucester, on the south
side of said prison, and also a Cellar the whole bigness of
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 105
the Watch House, and also a Well to be sunk within the
said yard, and a Pump to set therein. The Yard, Watch
House and Work House to be erected and built according
to the dimensions of a draft that is lodged with the Clerk
of the Board. A Tax of 200 pounds was ordered raised
for the defraying the cost thereof, and to be collected
within four months time.
At a meeting held August 29th, 1738, this record
appears :
The Board orders that the Watch House, which is
now finished, be and remain in possession of the High
Sheriff of the County of Gloucester, for such person as he
shall think fit to dwell in this year, and the said Sheriff
promises to take care that such person shall keep the said
House in repair, and also take care of the Court House,
that is, to secure the windows and keep the door shut, and
sweep and keep it clean. The Sheriff was named William
Tatem.
OWNERS OF TAVERNS, MILLS, STORES, BOATS AND
FERRIES TAXED.
At a meeting held January 15, 1739, the Board
ordered the sum of Eighty Pounds to be raised for the
use of the County, and to be levied in the following man-
ner:
Taverns or Public Houses Benjamin Peters, Gabriel
Friend, Robert Gerrard, Hugh Carwell, Henry Sparks,
Enoch Ellison, Jacob Ware, Isaac Hollingshead, Sarah
Bull, Daniel Cooper, Thomas Periweb, Sarah Norris, five
shillings each, except Ellison, 2 shillings 6 pence ; Hollings-
head, 3 shillings, and Norris, 2 shillings 6 pence.
The Grist Mills Samuel Shivers, William Ward,
Andrew Hoffman, Jacob Cozens, Robert Gerrard, Jona-
than Fisher, James Childs, EHsha Smith, Egg Harbor;
Lake Gibson, George Ward, 2 mills; Richard Cheesman,
Andrew Ware, Henry Roe, John Peterson, James
7
io6 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
Somers, 2 mills; John English, from 2 shillings 6 pence
to 6 shillings.
Stores and Shops Abraham Chattin, Michael
Fisher, John Hopper, Timothy Matlack.
Ferries Jacob Ware, Daniel Cooper, Benjamin
Cooper, 8, 10 and 6 shillings.
Flats and Wood Boats Six pence per cord.
Single men 2 shillings each, male servants and ne-
groes, all above 16 years, 6 pence each. The remainder
to be raised on the pound value. The assessment to be
made March ist and the tax to be paid May i5th.
John Ladd, Jr., was ordered paid 20 shillings for
his services as Clerk for the year 1739. Abraham Chat-
tin was ordered paid ten shillings for treating the work-
men at the building of the Watch House, and John
Kaighn forty shillings for treating said workmen.
The Managers for building the Watch House, John
Kaighn and Abraham Chattin, produced the account of
the same, amounting to 246 pounds 5 shillings and n
pence, which was approved and allowed by the Board.
At a meeting held April nth, 1740, a committee
reported that Great Timber Creek Bridge could no longer
be repaired, and that a new bridge must be built. A tax
of 1 60 pounds was ordered levied to defray the cost of
erection of New Bridge.
COUNTY COLLECTORS, JUSTICES AND FREEHOLDERS AND
CLERKS.
As before stated, the public business of the County
was jointly conducted by the Justices of the Peace of the
County and the Board of Chosen Freeholders. During
the period from 1723 to 1740 inclusive, these persons are
recorded as being the members of the two bodies during
that time:
Justices John Kay, John Hugg, John Mickle,
Samuel Coles, Samuel Ward, Abraham Porter, Abraham
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 107
Ledden, John Inskeep, John Rambo, Isaac Jennings,
David Vanneman, Alexander Randall, James Hinchman,
John Jones, Robert Zane, Constantine Wood, Abraham
Chattin, Alexander Morgan, John Hinchman, John Ladd,
Jr., John Kaighn, Thomas Wilkins, Joseph Coles.
Freeholders John Hillman, Benjamin Thackara,
William Harrison, Francis Jones, John Ashbrook, Rich-
ard Chew, Constantine Wood, Richard Brickman, Gus-
tavus Fish, Thomas Spicer, John Inskeep, William
Sharp, Edward Eglington, Samuel A. Burroughs,
Samuel Downs, Joseph Cooper, Jr., John Shay, John
Cooper, Jr., Robert Gerrard, Matthew Mattson, John
Jones, James Steelman, Richard Somers, John Hinchman,
John Mickle, John Brown, of Manto ; John Cook, Samuel
Harrison, John Smallwood, Joseph Ledden, Thomas
Sharp, Harmames Holmes, Oake Holmes, Israel Ward,
James Somers, John Mickle, Joseph Bate, John Kay, John
Kaighn, John Young, Jacobus Van Culin, Peter Steel-
man, Richard Somers, Caleb Culin, Alexander Morgan,
James Hinchman, William Cooper, Joseph Tomlinson,
Jonathan Ladd, Stephen Jones, Robert Smith, Jeremiah
Adams, Richard Cheesman, Timothy Matlack, Joseph R.
Cooper, George Ward, Samuel Driver, Nathan Lake,
William Cordery, John Matlack, Hans Steelman, Jacob
Couzens, Edward Doughty, Edward Somers, Thomas
Ellis, Samuel Coles, Tobias Holloway, Joseph Kaighn,
Samuel McCollick, Amos Ireland, Samuel Shivers,
Thomas Bickham, Isaac Jennings, Josiah Kay, John
Shivers, Simeon Ellis, Abraham Chattin, Peter Long,
William Read, John Tomlinson, John Thorn, John Wood,
EHas Steelman, Edward Higbee, James Hinchman,
Joseph Young, Thomas Coles, William Ellis, William
Wilkins, Amariah Ballinger, Hance Steelman, Abel Scull,
Nehemiah Leeds.
During this period the following named persons
served as County Collector and Clerk of the Board :
io8 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
County Collectors Matthew Medcalfe, Thomas
Sharp, Joseph Cooper, Jr.
Clerk Thomas Sharp, William Harrison, John
Kay, John Ladd, Jr.
EXPENSES OF SHERIFF PAID.
On May I2th, 1742, this minute appears of record:
''The Board orders Joseph Cooper, Collector, to pay
to Samuel Harrison, High Sheriff of the County of
Gloucester, the sum of ten shillings for gloves which he
bought at ye tryal of James Collins, and also fifteen
shillings for a halter, and expenses which he was at."
At this meeting the Collector was ordered to pay
William Hugg the sum of four pounds and four pence,
the expenses of the Board at this sitting, being two days.
On May 8, 1745, the Board ordered that the sum
of one hundred and sixty pounds be raised for the use
of the County in defraying the charge of killing wolves,
panthers, crows, black birds, &c., and the necessary re-
pairs of the Jail and Court House, &c., and to be levied
in the manner according to the direction heretofore given
for levying the last County Tax (Taverns excepted)
and that all stores, shops and mills erected in the County
since the last like assessment, to be taxed at the As-
sessors' direction.
WHIPPER IMPORTED; CONVICTS HANGED.
On March Qth, 1750, these entries appear in the
records :
"Ordered, that ye County Collector pay unto John
Marshall, the sum of one pound, 13 shillings, for making
3 pair of irons for ye prisoners, and attending 3 days in
fitting them."
"At said Board, Samuel Harrison, Sheriff for the
County of Gloucester, brought in a bill wherein he
charges the County, to whipping James McBride, 10
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 109
shillings; for the time and expenses in getting a whip-
per and whipper's ferriages, 7 shillings, 6 pence; for
executing John Johnson, John Steward and Edward
Caral, 15 pounds; for ropes to execute them, 8 shillings
and 8 pence; to the executioner's expenses, I pound; to
digging graves for said men, 6 shillings. Total, 17
pounds, 12 shillings and 2 pence. The Board taking
said bill into consideration, allow for the ropes and ye
digging of graves, 14 shillings and 8 pence; for ye rest,
are of opinion it is ye Sheriff's office to see ye law exe-
cuted upon convicts, as they know no law that justifies
him to any pay for ye execution of his office in such case ;
think therefore it would be a ill precedent, and not war-
rantable in them to allow said bill or any of ye like kind.
Ordered that the Clerk endorse on the back of said bill
14 shillings 8 pence, allowed for ropes and digging of
graves; ye rest of ye within bill disallowed, and return
it to ye Sheriff with an order on the County Collector for
said sum."
ADDITIONS AND REPAIRS TO PRISON AND COURT HOUSE.
It was likewise agreed at said meeting that the
Prison be enlarged 10 feet in the clear, with ye Road;
ye walls to be sunk three foot into ye ground, to be 2^2
foot thick, and a partition carried up the first story; ye
floor to be pitched with long stone two foot deep, filled
up with mortar, and floored over with two inch plank.
Samuel Coles was appointed Manager to see this
addition built as above, and as soon as conveniently may
be.
Tax for 320 pounds was ordered raised at this meet-
ing, 40 pounds of which was appropriated for killing of
wolves, and other beasts of prey.
On March 8, 1751, it was ordered that the old Prison
be floored over in the same manner as the new part was
appointed to be done in 1750, and Samuel Harrison was
no NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
appointed Manager to see it done as soon as he can con-
veniently.
On April 14, 1751, Samuel Harrison was ordered
paid 17 pounds, 5 shillings, for flooring Prison with
stone and plank, and usual allowance for paying out
money.
At this meeting it was ordered that Robert Stephens
and Jacob Albertson be Managers to have the addition to
the Prison built, agreeable to an order of the Board of
Justices and Freeholders, May 10, 1750, and in the
manner the said minute sets forth, to be done with the
greatest dispatch conveniency will admit of.
On June 22, 1751, this minute appears:
"This Board viewing ye Foundation for ye addition
to ye Prison, think it too small. Ordered that it be built
two foot wider than it was appointed by ye Board ye I7th
of 4th Mo., 1751, and without any partition. Ordered
that Robert Stephens and Jacob Albertson get a part of
ye old Prison not yet floored, done in ye same manner
as ye other part is."
ANOTHER NEW BELL ORDERED.
On January 22, 1753:
"Ordered that ye Managers get a new Bell for ye
Court House, of a 100 pound weight, and dispose of ye
old one to help pay for ye same."
On February 27th, 1753, it was reported that the
cost of building addition to Prison was 374 pounds 17
shillings and 2 pence, including commissions of 10 pence
per pound, which was allowed by the Board.
At a meeting held June I2th, 1759, it was "Ordered
that Joseph Harrison wait on the Governor, with a peti-
tion for ascertaining the division lines of the several
Townships in this County, in order to obtain Patent for
the same, and produce his account of disbursement for
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. in
said service to the County Collector, who is authorized
to pay same.
On October 6th, 1760, this minute is recorded:
"Ordered that Samuel Harrison, Jr., and Joseph
Harrison, repair the Prison chimney, glaize the Court
House windows, glaize one of the front Gaol windows,
and make a wooden shutter to the other, clean the well in
the yard, and if the necessary houses in the Gaol can be
made more convenient with small expense, the same to be
done. Also that they settle with Hugh Jones for what
repairs he made to the County House, and draw on Sim-
eon Ellis for the moneys in his hands lodged there for to
repair the damage done by the Riotting Soldiers, and
apply it towards the aforesaid repairs, and if that be in-
sufficient, that they draw on the County Collector for the
residue."
TOWNSHIP DIVISIONS.
At a meeting held May 13, 1761, this minute is re-
corded :
''Ordered at said meeting that Richard Matlock,
Henry Wood, John Hinchman, William Davis, James
Whitall, Joshua Lord, Francis Batten and Jacob Spicer,
agree with Samuel Clement, Jr., a Deputy Surveyor, to
run out the division lines of the Townships of Waterford,
Gloucester Township, Deptford and Greenwich, in said
County, and a division line between the aforesaid Town-
ships and Great Egg Harbour in said County, pursuant
to the directions of an Act of General Assembly of the
Province of New Jersey, in that case made and provided,
and that the said division line between Great Egg Har-
bour and the said other Townships to run as follows, viz :
Beginning at the southerly branch of Little Egg Harbour
River, below Richard Fry's; thence on a straight course
to the High Hill, on Great Eggharbour old road ; thence
on the same course to the division line of Gloucester and
Salem Counties ; and extend the said several other Town-
ii2 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
ships back to the said line, and further, that the said lines
be run out and marked on or before the first day of Sep-
tember next."
At a meeting held September 15, 1761, the several
persons above mentioned, appointed to run out and mark
the Township lines aforesaid, together with Samuel
Clement, Jr., the Surveyor, reported that they had run
out and marked the several Townships they had in charge,
and produced a map of the same.
"Ordered that the County Collector cause the Map
or Draught, and Certificate of the Division of said Town-
ships made by Samuel Clement, Jr., Surveyor, to be enter-
ed in the Clerk's Office of the Western Division of the
Province of New Jersey, according to the directions of an
Act of General Assembly."
COST OF RUNNING TOWNSHIP LINES.
"Ordered that the County Collector pay unto the
several persons appointed to run out and mark the several
Townships aforesaid, their wages and expenses as fol-
lows:
Richard Matlack .... 5 pounds, 19 shillings, n pence
Henry Wood i " 18
John Hinchman 5 " 13 " 2 "
William Davis 5 " 13 " 2 "
James Whitall 5 " 13 9 "
Joshua Lord 5 17 5 "
Francis Batten 3 " 14 " 5 "
Noah Smith 4 8 6 "
Samuel Clement, Jr.,
Surveyor 8 " 18 " 2 "
Total 47 16 2
A Tax of 70 pounds was ordered levied for the pay-
ment of the expense of running the lines of the several
Townships.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 113
THINGS TAXED.
As the public needs of the County increased with the
growing population, it is very certain that new sources of
taxation must be found. This is herewith shown by the
Tax Levy ordered September 2, 1762, as appears by the
record as follows :
"Ordered that the sum of one hundred and fifty
pounds be raised on the inhabitants of this County, for the
County's use in manner following:
"All Householders, the tax of whose ratable estate,
consisting of certainties, does not amount to one shilling,
shall be rated at the discretion of the Assessors, not under
six pence, nor above ten shillings.
"All Merchants and Shop Keepers shall be rated at
the discretion of the Assessors, not under one shilling and
six pence, nor above one pound five shillings.
"All Saw Mills shall be rated at the discretion of the
Assessors, not under five shillings, nor above two pounds
ten shillings.
"All Grist Mills, for each pair of stones, shall be
rated at the discretion of the Assessors, not under two
shillings and six pence, nor above two pounds ten shill-
ings.
"All Fulling Mills, to be rated at the discretion of
the Assessors, not under three shillings, nor above one
pound ten shillings.
"Every Ferry shall be rated at the discretion of the
Assessors, not under two shillings and six pence nor above
three pounds.
"Every Coasting Sloop, Shallop, Flat Boat that
carries for hire, Passage Boat, Pilot Boat and Wood Boat,
shall be rated at the discretion of the Assessors, in propor-
tion to their burthen and Business, not under two shillings
and six pence nor above four shillings.
"Every Riding Chair shall be rated at the discretion
of the Assessors, not under nine pence, nor over one shill-
ing and six pence.
ii4 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
"Every single man that works for hire, and keeps a
horse, mare or gelding, shall be rated the sum of four
shillings.
"Every single man that works for hire, and does not
keep a horse, mare or gelding, shall be rated the sum of
two shillings.
''Every bought Servant and Slave, being male of 16
years old and upwards, except such slaves as are not able
to work, shall be rated the sum of one shilling.
"All Cattle, Horses, Mares and Geldings of two years
old and upwards, shall be valued at 25 shillings each head.
"All Sheep of one year old and upwards, shall be
valued at 3 shillings each head.
"All Profitable Tracts of Land, held by Patent, Deed
or Survey, whereon any improvement is made, the whole
Tract shall be valued at the discretion of the Assessors,
not above forty pounds, nor under eight pounds per hun-
dred.
"The Assessors to meet at the Court House, in the
Town of Gloucester, on the 2Oth day of October, next, in
order to settle the aforesaid tax, and make out their Dupli-
cates, and deliver them to the Collector of each respective
Township, on the 27th day of the present October. Col-
lector to collect the Tax and pay it to the County Collector
on the 27th day of November next."
All the Assessments seem to have been made at a
joint meeting of the Assessors, at the Court House in
Gloucester.
ARMS AND AMMUNITION FROM PERTH AMBOY.
At a meeting held September 28, 1763, James Whit-
all was ordered to get the County Book of Records bound
with calfskin, and pay the cost and produce his account
when the work is done. This was done at a cost of 7
shillings 6 pence.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 115
At the same meeting it was "Ordered that Joseph Ellis
do receive of John Johnson, of Perth Amboy, Esquire,
or his heirs, executors, administrators, the Quota of Arms
and Ammunition which belongs to the County of Glouces-
ter, and to pay the expenses of storage, if any be, and
other necessary expenses for transporting the said arms
and ammunition to the Town of Gloucester, and deliver
them to William Hugg, of the Town of Gloucester afore-
said, and the account of the expenses aforesaid to be laid
before the next Board of Justices and Freeholders.
"Ordered that David Cooper, County Collector, pay
unto Jacob Ellis, the sum of ten pounds, in order to en-
able him to transport the arms and ammunition belong-
ing to this County from Perth Amboy to the Town of
Gloucester."
At a meeting held October 31, 1763, it is noticed that
there was received this County's proportion of arms and
accoutrements, as mentioned in the act of Assembly,
powder and ball excepted. Joseph Ellis was paid 10
pounds 17 shillings and 9 pence for transportation of
arms, &c., from Perth Amboy.
Ordered that William Hugg, of the Town of Glou-
cester, receive the arms in his custody, and keep them
until ordered otherwise, and that he employ some person
to clean them and keep them in good order, and lay the
expense of the same before the next Board, in order to
be discharged.
CONSTABLES' STAFFS WITH KING'S COAT OP ARMS.
At a meeting held May 10, 1764, it was ordered that
John Hillman make ten new Constables' Staffs, and get
them painted with the King's Coat of Arms, and the
names of the Townships, viz : One for Water ford, one
for Newton, one for Gloucester Town, one for Glouces-
ter Township, one for Deptford, two for Greenwich, and
three for Eggharbour; 45 shillings were paid for this
work.
ii6 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
William Hugg was ordered paid one pound fifteen
shillings for getting 159 muskets cleaned.
COUNTY LINE BETWEEN SALEM AND GLOUCESTER; ARMS
TO BE SOLD.
"Letter being read, signed by Robert Johnson and
John Holme, Justices of the Peace for the County of
Salem, wherein was an appointment to run and mark the
line between the Counties of Salem and Gloucester, giv-
ing notice to two of the Justices of the Peace for Glouces-
ter County to meet the 25th of June next, which letter
being laid before this Board ;
''Ordered, that Francis Batten, George Flanningham
and Thomas Denny, Esq., be a committee to joyn a com-
mittee chose by ye Justices and Freeholders of ye County
of Salem, to run and mark the division line between the
said Counties, pursuant to an act of General Assembly,
and that ye said Thomas Denny is hereby appointed as
Surveyor to assist therein." At a meeting held June 10,
1765, the committee reported that they had performed the
duty assigned them, at an expense of 5 pounds 10
shillings and six pence for Thomas Denny as Surveyor
for 6 days; Francis Batten, 2 pounds 10 shillings; George
Flanningham, 2 pounds 10 shillings ; Markers and Chain
Bearers, 2 pounds 5 shillings, 5 days each.
At this meeting it was ordered that the County Arms
be divided into four equal parts between the following
persons :
One-fourth part in care of John Hinchman and Isaac
Mickle.
One-fourth part to Samuel Harrison, Esq., and John
Hider.
One-fourth part to Alexander Randall, Esq., and
George Flanningham.
One-fourth part to Michael Fisher and John Sparks.
The above persons to be entrusted with the said arms,
and to sell them for the best price they can, the way
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 117
and manner how to be at their discretion, and to ren-
der an account of the same to the Board, at Gloucester,
the first day of December Court next.
Samuel Clement, Jr., County Collector, reported that
he had received the following fines : Jacob Orchard and
Benjamin Lippincott, for refusing to serve as Constables
in the Township of Greenwich, 10 pounds; James Steel-
man, for refusing to serve as Town Collector in the Town-
ship of Greenwich, one pound.
GUNS SOLD.
At the meeting held December 7th, 1765, reports
were made as follows :
John Hinchman and Isaac Mickle reported sale of
39 guns for 59 pounds 5 shillings and 9 pence.
Samuel Harrison and John Hider, 39 guns for 57
pounds 19 shillings and 10 pence.
Michael Fisher . and John Sparks, 38 guns, 57
pounds.
Alexander Randall and George Flanningham, 34
guns, 51 pounds.
Each Committee reported a balance unpaid on ac-
count of sales. It was ordered that these balances be
collected and paid County Collector, at the next meeting
in May, the committees to receive 5 per cent, commission
on the whole sum for their trouble. All balances were
reported paid in full at a meeting held May 13, 1767.
The County Collector reported the following fines
from persons nominated as Constables, who refused to
serve :
John Kaighn, 5 pounds; Jonathan Paul, 5 pounds;
James Steelman, 5 pounds ; Gideon Scull, 5 pounds.
COURT HOUSE DAMAGED BY EIRE.
At a meeting of the Justices and Freeholders, on
the 8th day of February, 1768, agreeable to the summons
n8 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
of Samuel Harrison, Robert F. Price and John H inch-
man, Justices, to meet and consult on some method to
repair the damages done to the Court House by fire,
and other matters for the County's service, the follow-
ing members appeared :
Justices Samuel Harrison, Robert F. Price, John
Hinchman.
Freeholders Waterford, Richard Matlack, Nathan
Lippincott ; Newton, David Branson, Isaac Mickle ; Glou-
cester Town, John Brick, John Mickle ; Gloucester Town-
ship, Josiah Albertson, John Hider; Deptford, Joshua
Lord, James Hinchman; Greenwich, George Flanning-
ham, Archibald Moffett; Woolwich, Jacob Spicer.
Woolwich Township seems first to have had a Free-
holder at the meeting held May 13, 1767.
The minute records this action at the meeting held
February 8, 1767:
"Whereas, by the account of fire, the Roof of the
Court House is burned off, and other damage done to ye
said house, it is
"Ordered by the Board that all necessary utensils be
purchased, and all necessary repairs be made to the Court
House and Jail, in or near the manner it was before the
consumption by the fire, with all convenient speed, and ac-
cordingly Isaac Mickle and James Hinchman are appoint-
ed Managers to purchase material and hire workmen, and
see the work is done and produce their accounts to the
next meeting of the Board, if the work is done; if not 10
the next succeeding Board.
OLD BELL TO BE SOLD AND NEW ONE PURCHASED.
"Ordered that said Managers endeavor to sell the old
bell at the best price they can, and also purchase a new
one at their discretion.
"Ordered that the Managers call on the County Col-
lector for cash to carry on the said work, and to purchase
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 119
the Bell, and their receipts shall be his discharge for the
same.
"Ordered that the County Collector pay unto Wil-
liam Hugg the sum of 13 shillings and four pence for
drink for the persons who helped put out the fire at the
Court House."
On October 3d, 1769, Isaac Mickle reported the cost
of repairs to the Court House to be 125 pounds, 10 shill-
ings and 1 1 pence, which was ordered settled.
JUSTICES, FREEHOLDERS, COLLECTORS, CLERKS.
From 1740 to 1770, these persons served as Justices
and Freeholders :
Justices James Hinchman, Isaac Jennings, John
Kaighn, Joseph Kaighn, Thomas Coles, Thomas Wilkins,
Japhet Leeds, Simeon Ellis, John Ladd, Michael Fisher,
Alexander Randall, Samuel Clement, Alexander Morgan,
Thomas Denny, Joseph Harrison, Edward Doughty,
Robert F. Price, Henry Wood, John Hinchman, James
Somers, Samuel Harrison, Samuel Spicer.
Freeholders Alexander Morgan, William Ellis,
Ebenezer Hopkins, Robert Stephens, William Harrison,
John Mickle, John Hinchman, John Tomlinson, John
Wood, George Ward, Jr., Alexander Randall, William
Wilkins, Richard Risley, Edward Doughty, Richard Mat-
lack, Timothy Matlack, James McCullough, Allen Mor-
gan, Robert Smith, Daniel Lake, Samuel Harrison, Wil-
liam Hugg, Samuel McCullough, James Cooper, Samuel
Shivers, Aaron Aaronson, Samuel Clement, Jacob Albert-
son, John Burrough, Isaac Smith, Edward Richardson,
William Wood, Joseph Ellis, James Whitall, William
Mickle, John Thorn, James Lord, Robert Gerrard, Sam-
uel Coles, David Cooper, Henry Roe, Francis Batten,
John Hillman, James Talman, John Sparks, John Chew,
Thomas Wilkins, Jacob Couzens, Thomas Cheesman,
Isaac Kay, Robert Zane, Isaac Albertson, William Ger-
120 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
rard, John Brown, Joshua Lord, Jr., Archibald Mickle,
John Gill, Jacob Clement, Matthew Gill, Samuel Harri-
son, Jr., Isaac Mickle, George Flanningham, Isaac Cooper,
Joseph Johnson, John Hopkins, Joshua Lord, Jr., Henry
Wood, William Davis, Gideon Scull, Joseph Cooper,
Josiah Albertson, David Branson, Jacob Spicer, Abraham
Chattin, John Hider, Thomas Bate, Nathaniel Lippincott,
John Brick, Archibald Moffett, Frederick Steelman, John
Somers, David Hurley Solomon Lippincott, Peter Chees-
man, Benjamin Lodge, Joseph Hillman, Thomas Clark,
Samuel Hewes, Thomas Wood.
During this period, also, the following persons served
as Clerks of the Board and County Collectors of the
County :
County Collectors Joseph Cooper, Ebenezer Hop-
kins, David Cooper and Samuel Clement, Jr.
Clerks Samuel Spicer, Alexander Randall, William
Wood, Samuel Harrison, Jr., David Cooper, Joseph Har-
rison, James Whitall, Samuel Clement, Jr., Joseph Hugg,
Isaac Mickle, James Hinchman, Joseph Kaighn.
From the year 1725 forward, there seem to be
many references to the business of the Commissioners of
the Loan Office, but as the writer does not understand
fully these proceedings, no further reference thereto will
be made in these notes.
Frequent reference is made to inquests and burial of
"dead corpses," and the payment of board of prisoners is
referred to as "dieting" them.
Murders and other crimes seem to have been fre-
quent, and several executions of criminals are noted.
Repairs to Court House and Gaol, and Great Timber
Creek bridge, seem to have been an annual responsibility.
The Board frequently failed to have a quorum for
business at their meetings, and Freeholders from Egg
Harbour Township were seldom present. However, ses-
sions occasionally lasted two days. Two or three meet-
ings per year, seem to have been the custom.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 121
Under date of May 1 1, 1771, this entry appears :
"There not being a sufficient number of Justices met
to do business, no business was done."
There are no further entries or proceedings for that
year.
At a special meeting held April 8, 1772, James Kin-
sey was ordered paid the sum of four pounds, sixteen
shillings, for prosecuting Peter Mantle to conviction for
the murder of Elizabeth Lippincott.
"James Kinsey laid another bill of 30 shillings before
the Board for prosecuting Darby Leary, but as it was at
the Circuit Court, the Freeholders would not allow it."
On May 13, 1772, James Bowman was ordered paid
eight shillings and three pence for a Book to record the
return of Roads.
A new Bridge having been ordered to be built over
Great Timber Creek, this minute appears at the meeting
held May 12, 1773 :
"Joseph Hugg, Esq., engageth to keep a Ferry over
Great Timber Creek, at or near the place of the present
Bridge, to carry over passengers or travellers passing the
road whilst the said Bridge is rebuilding; and the Board
order him to take no more fee or rate than what is com-
monly taken at Ancocas Lower Ferry, and that he give
constant attendance to that business during the time the
said Bridge is rebuilding."
At a meeting held May n, 1774, the cost of rebuild-
ing Bridge was reported to be 202 pounds, one shilling
and seven pence.
Only one meeting was held in the year 1775, on May
loth, but nothing of present day interest was transacted.
DURING THE REVOLUTION.
No quorum appearing in May, 1776, no business was
transacted. No record of any other meetings held that
year.
8
122 NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
This notation is attached in this minute :
"N. B. The present Government took place on the
2d of July, 1776."
Only one meeting was held May 10, 1777, for that
year, and little business transacted.
At a special meeting held August 3, 1778, this minute
is made:
"The Freeholders refusing to take the oaths to Gov-
ernment, prevented proceeding to business."
No other entry appears for that year.
At a meeting held January i, 1779, 1500 pounds was
ordered raised for defraying the public expenses of the
County.
At a meeting held June I3th, 1780, Col. Joseph Ellis
and Major Samuel Hugg, Freeholders from Gloucester
Town, are described with military titles.
At a meeting held August 7, 1781, a County Seal
was ordered.
At a meeting held February 5, 1782, this minute is
recorded :
''John Wilkins, Esq., County Collector, moved the
Board for allowance of 882 pounds, 15 shillings, Continen-
tal money, which he had received for County Taxes,
which he had paid into the Treasury, and hath been re-
turned to him as counterfeit.
"Ordered that this Board do not make any allowance
to the County Collector aforesaid, for any part of said
882 pounds, 15 shillings.
"Samuel Harker, Collector of Woolwich Township,
moved the Board for allowance for ten three pound State
bills, being counterfeit, which he had received in said
Township for Tax, not knowing them to be such when
he received them.
"Ordered that this Board do not make any allowance
to the said Samuel Harker for any part of said Counter-
feit Money aforesaid."
NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 123
At the same meeting it was "Ordered that the Board
do not allow the Crier of the Court to draw his fees out
of the County's Money, by virtue of any order of Court
whatsoever, or otherwise."
Preceding- the minutes of a meeting held March 23,
1786, there appears a lead pencil memorandum made by
John M. Saunders, which reads as follows :
"NoTE. The Court House and Jail at Gloucester
must have been destroyed by fire, I think, sometime in
the early part of the 3d Mo., (March) 1786.
J. M. S."
At a special meeting held March 23, 1786, at the
House of William Hugg, in the Town of Gloucester, the
following named Justices and Freeholders were present:
Justices John Wilkins, Joseph Hugg, John Sparks,
Robert Brown, Thomas Denny, John Griffith, Joseph
Ellis, Samuel Kennard, Joshua Smith.
Freeholders Waterford, Joseph Champion, Thomas
Thorn; Newton, John E. Hopkins, John Gill; Gloucester
Town, Samuel Harrison, Samuel Hugg; Gloucester Tp.,
Isaac Tomlinson, John Hider; Deptford, James Wilkins,
Joseph Reeves; Greenwich, John Haines, Elijah Cozens;
Woolwich, John Kille, George Van Leer; Egg Harbor,
Thomas Somers.
PETITION TO LEGISLATURE TO PERMIT NEW COURT HOUSE
TO BE ERECTED AT WOODBURY.
The minutes of this meeting show action as follows :
"The question whether the Court House and Gaol,
lately consumed by fire, should be repaired, or whether a
petition be sent to the Legislature for a law to be passed
to enable the inhabitants to build a new Court House and
Gaol. The vote being called there was a majority for
having them built new. It was then agreed by the Board
that a petition should be sent from said Board praying the
Legislature to pass a law for the building of a Court
124 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
House and Gaol, in such place in said County as a major-
ity of the inhabitants thereof shall determine by a fair and
impartial election.
"Ordered, that a petition be drawn immediately, and
signed by the Clerk, on behalf of the Board, which was
done accordingly."
At a meeting held at the House of William Hugg in
Gloucester, May 10, 1786, the following action was taken:
"Whereas, there was a minute made at the last meet-
ing of the Board, by order of said Board, that a petition
be sent to the Legislature, praying them to pass a law for
the building of a Court House and Gaol, in such place in
said County as a majority of the inhabitants thereof shall
determine by a free and impartial election. Agreeable
thereto a petition from the Board and signed by the Clerk
was sent, but before it arrived, the House rose. And
whereas, said petition is either lost or mislaid, as appears,
the Board then resumed the consideration thereof, and
the votes were called accordingly, a majority of which
were for a new petition to be drawn and sent to the Legis-
lature, agreeable to the said minute; therefore ordered
that the Clerk of this Board draw a petition in manner
and form aforesaid, and sign it on behalf of the Board,
and cause it to be forwarded to the Legislature at their
next sitting.
At a meeting held August 3, 1786, James Brown,
John Jessup and Samuel Hugg were chosen managers to
agree with workmen, and purchase materials for the build-
ing of the Gaol and Court House at Woodbury.
SITE FOR COURT HOUSE AND JAIL SELECTED.
At a special meeting held September 22, 1786, at the
house of William Hugg, it was unanimously agreed to
adjourn until the 29th of September, to meet at the house
of Josiah Hillman, in Woodbury, to fix upon a Lot of
Ground whereon to build the Court House and Gaol.
NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 125
The Board met according to adjournment, and pro-
ceeded to the choice of a lot for the use of a Court House
and Gaol; when John Bispham offered a lot four rods
front and fifteen rods back for the purpose aforesaid.
The votes were then called, and the offer was unanimously
accepted.
"Ordered, that James Wilkins, John Wilkins and
Joseph Reeves be a committee to see the Lot laid out and
take Deed therefor.
"Ordered, that the Jail be built the same size of Salem
Jail, and the Court House to be 35 by 40 feet, and the
Yard 100 feet in length."
At a special meeting held December 6, 1786,
"Ordered that the Managers chosen to superintend
the building of the Court House and Gaol, do immediately
take a Deed for the lot whereon said buildings are to
stand, agreeable to the draft produced to this Board by
John Wilkins.
"Ordered, that said Managers do pay for said lot out
of the public moneys in their hands, 50 pounds."
1500 pounds was ordered raised by Tax for the build-
ing of Court House and Gaol.
At a meeting held December 2, 1787, the Managers
of the Gaol and Court House made report that the Gaol
was nearly finished, upon which the Board appointed John
Wilkins, Joseph Ellis, Samuel Harrison and James Wil-
kins, Freeholders, as a committee to take charge of the
Gaol, and deliver it up to the High Sheriff of the County,
as soon as it is fitting to hold prisoners. John Blackwood
was then High Sheriff.
The cost of the Court House and Gaol, as changed
from pounds, shillings and pence to dollars and cents,
seems to have been $12,286.10, as shown by memorandum
made in Minute Book by John M. Saunders.
At a meeting held May n, 1791, it was "Ordered
that John Wilkins, Esq., take charge of the Deed where-
on the Court House and Gaol are erected, and get it re-
126 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
corded in the Secretary's Office at Burlington, and then
to bring it down again and lodge it in the Clerk's Office of
this County.
John Jessup was ordered paid 30 pounds for a Bell
and hanging same for Court House.
At a meeting held May 9, 1792, it was ''Ordered that
a Stove be purchased for the Court House, 2 dozen Wind-
sor chairs, one table, 2 sets andirons, shovels and tongs,
2 cords of hickory wood, glass put over the door, win-
dows fitted with glass. The seats to be raised at the dis-
cretion of the Managers. To erect Stocks, Whipping Post
and Pillory, placed at the discretion of the Manager, and
that John Jessup be Manager to carry the business into
effect."
NEW ROADS LAID OUT.
"The Commissioners appointed by law to lay out
a public road from Mount Holly to Joshua Cooper's
Ferry, represent in writing to this Board that 200 pounds
is necessary to complete said road."
At a meeting held May 14, 1794, "Ordered that the
sum of 150 pounds specie, more than the 50 pounds di-
rected by law, be raised in this County for that purpose,
and for the laying out and clearing the public road directed
by said law to be laid out from Woodbury to Bridgeton,
in Cumberland County; and that 35 pounds of the money
now in the County Collector's hands be paid to the Com-
missioners for laying out the Mount Holly road, (if their
fees do amount to so much) and the remainder of said
County money, after the paying the orders of this Board,
to be paid to the Commissioners for laying out the Bridge-
ton road, if said road shall be laid out."
At a meeting held May 13, 1795, it was ordered
that 500 pounds specie be raised by tax to lay out, open
and improve the roads from Burlington and Mount Holly
to Cooper's Ferry, and from Bridgeton and Roadstown
to Woodbury.
NOTES ON Ow> GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 127
At a meeting held May 10, 1797, Joshua Howell and
Phineas Lord were appointed Commissioners to make an
estimate of the expense necessary to purchase a Lot of
Ground in the town of Woodbury, and for the building
thereon of a house for the safe keeping of the Records of
the County of Gloucester.
At a meeting held May 10, 1797, this minute is re-
corded :
"Benjamin Whitall, Aaron Pancoast, Thomas Car-
penter, Eli Elmer and Elnathan Davis, five of the Com-
missioners for opening and improving certain Roads in
the Counties of Cumberland, Salem, Gloucester and Bur-
lington, in this State, under the seventh section of the act
passed February 15, 1794, applied to this Board for the
sum of Five Hundred Pounds, to be assessed, levied and
collected, to enable them to fulfil for the purposes men-
tioned in the said act. On the question whether the said
sum of Five Hundred Pounds be raised for the purpose
mentioned in the said application, it was determined in
the negative."
These notes conclude extracts from Book A of
Minutes, and the following notes are condensed from the
Minute Book marked B.
BOOK B
At the annual meeting held May 9, 1798, there is no
record of the attendance of any Justices, but a full at-
tendance of Freeholders only.
COUNTY CLERK'S OFFICE.
A plan for the erection of a Clerk's Office was pre-
sented by John E. Hopkins, being 25 feet 4 inches by 20
feet, arched cellar under the whole, door posts and
window frames stone, doors and window shutters iron,
and the roof to be covered with copper, which plan was
approved. This Office afterwards became the Surrogate's
Office, and when it was vacated as such when the present
128 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
Court House was completed, the Farmers and Mechanics
National Bank occupied it when first organized for several
months. It was finally demolished for the purpose of
opening Newton Avenue.
ROOM IN COURT HOUSE USED AS A LIBRARY.
Joshua L. Howell and James M. Whitall, two of the
Directors of the Union Library Company, of Woodbury,
requested the liberty of putting the books, &c., of said
Company, in one of the front chambers of the Court
House, which request was granted on trial.
At a meeting held January 8, 1799, 1000 pounds
was ordered paid John E. Hopkins and Phineas Lord
on account of building the Clerk's Office. At this meet-
ing a Deed was presented from Isaac Wilkins and Rachel,
his wife, for the purchase of a lot on which the Clerk's
Office was erected.
At this meeting also it was ordered that a Wrought
Iron Chest be purchased for the County Collector, the
more safely to keep the money of the County.
The Commissioners for opening the road from
Woodbury to Bridgeton and Roadstown, requested that
the County Collector should pay them 177 pounds 3 shil-
lings 3 pence for the use of said road, it being the balance
of 500 pounds which was ordered for that purpose, which
was ordered paid by the County Collector.
At a meeting held May 8, 1799, this minute is re-
corded :
RACCOON CREEK BRIDGE.
"John Pisant, on behalf of the proprietors of the
Lower Bridge over Raccoon Creek, reported to this Board
that the said proprietors do now relinquish all their claim
to said Bridge, and request that this Board provide for
the repairing and supporting said Bridge, at the expense
of this County. On motion, whether said Bridge be main-
tained by the County, it was carried in the affirmative."
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 129
This is the first record having reference to construction
and repair of Bridges other than Great Timber Creek
Bridge before above date. At the same meeting the
question of building a Bridge over the South Branch of
Great Timber Creek, at or near Limber Bridge, was pre-
sented, and James Hopkins, Jacob Stokes and Jeremiah
Wood were appointed a committee thereon. This Com-
mittee reported in favor of making application to the
Legislature for the passage of a law authorizing the con-
struction thereof.
At a meeting held December 12, 1799, report was
made that such a law had been passed. It was there-
fore ordered that John Wilkins, John B. Morgan, Jacob
Stokes, Jeremiah Wood and Samuel P. Maul be appointed
a Committee to proceed with its construction. Other
references are made to the building and repairs of
Bridges over Woodbury Creek, on public highway ; Car-
penter's Landing Bridge, Raccoon Bridge at Swedes-
boro, lower Bridge over Mantua Creek, over Garrard's
Dam, and Penshawkin Creek, &c., in 1799 and 1800.
At the same meeting this minute is recorded :
A POOR HOUSE CONSIDERED.
"A motion was made to this Board, of the propriety
of procuring a Poor House in the County of Gloucester,
the more conveniently to enable all poor persons who are,
or may be, a public charge to said County, to be provided
for by said County, which was carried in the affirmative ;
and ordered that Samuel Cooper, James Hopkins and
James Stratton be a Committee to make inquiry about
the premises and report to this Board at their next meet-
ing."
CONTRIBUTION FOR EIRE ENGINE.
At same meeting, "Franklin Davenport, Esq., on be-
half of the Woodbury Fire Company, requested of this
Board their assistance, in order to enable the said Com-
130 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
pany to purchase Fire Engine and other apparatus for
the use of said Company ; therefore ordered, that the sum
of $200 be paid by the County Collector to the Treasurer
of said Company, on or before the expiration of one
year."
At this time entries changed from use of words
Pounds, Shillings and Pence, to Dollars and Cents.
At an adjourned meeting held December 12, 1800,
this minute is recorded :
POOR HOUSE FARM PURCHASED.
"The Committee, who were appointed by this Board,
at their last meeting, to purchase a suitable place for build-
ing a Poor House, &c., for said County, now reports that
they have purchased of Michael C. Fisher, in the Town-
ship of Deptford, a Plantation containing 125 acres of
land, at ten pounds per acre, amounting to $3,333.33,
which was unanimously agreed to. Said Committee also
produced a Deed for said land, which was duly executed ;
and it is further ordered, that the Director of said Board
be authorized to receive said Deed, when acknowledged,
and have the same recorded, and to execute a Bond to the
said Michael C. Fisher, for the purchase money, agreeably
to contract." The Committee consisted of Samuel Coop-
er, James Hurley, John Hider, Samuel W. Harrison,
Amos Cooper, William Ford, James Stratton, John Col-
lins, Richard Westcott and Elias Smith, Jr. This Com-
mittee produced a plan of a House to be built 75 by 35
feet, two stories high, and a cellar under the whole, to be
built with stone, which was agreed to, and Amos Cooper,
John Brick and John Hider were appointed Commission-
ers to superintend the building thereof, at $1.50 per day,
if service in County, or $2.00 out of the County.
JUSTICES, FREEHOLDERS, COLLECTORS AND CLERKS.
From 1770 to 1800 these persons served as Justices
and Freeholders:
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 131
Justices Michael Fisher, John Hinchman, Samuel
Spicer, Isaac Kay, James Bowman, Thomas Clark, George
Van Leer, Samuel Blackwood, James Hinchman, James
Somers, Samuel Risley, Robert Wood, Israel Shreve,
Thomas Denny, John Sparks, Joseph Hugg, Robert
Brown, Bodo Otto, John Wilkins, Isaac Tomlinson,
Thomas Hastings, Samuel Kinnard, John Cooper, John
Griffith, John Little, William Cozens, Joseph Ellis, Joshua
Smith, Jeffrey Clark, Robert Morris, Samuel Elwell,
Thomas Champion, Samuel Risley, Mica j ah Smith, Elias
Smith, Benjamin Morgan, David Clark, William Tatem,
Joseph Blackwood, Thomas Carpenter, James Strattcn,
Abraham Inskeep, Joseph Champion, William Zane,
Thomas Heston, James Sloan, John Brick.
Freeholders Nathaniel Lippincott, Joshua Stokes,
David Branson, Isaac Mickle, Joseph Ellis, John Mickle,
Peter Cheesman, Jacob Jennings, David Cooper, Joshua
Lord, David Brown, Jacob Spicer, Matthew Gill, William
Cozens, John Gill, Joseph Hillman, Joshua Cozens, Jos-
hua Fisher, Constantine Wilkins, Joseph Hugg, James
Whitall, John Glover, Thomas West, Frederick Steelman,
John E. Hopkins, Samuel Harrison, John Brick, Benja-
min Pittfield, Isaac Jones, David Davis, Thomas Thorn,
Jacob Stokes, Joseph Low, Charles Fisher, John Kille,
Samuel Wilson, Robert Ford Price, Thomas Taber,
Joseph Collins, John Griffith, John Little, Samuel Hugg,
John Hider, John Hedger, James Wilkins, Randal Mor-
gan, Isaac Thompson, Felix Fisher, Henry Shute, Jonn
Middleton, Isaac Mickle, Elijah Clark, Richard Chees-
man, John Ladd Howell, Daniel Southerland, John West,
John Steelman, Samuel Burrough, Jacob Jennings, Laz-
arus Price, William Zane, Joseph Hillman, Joshua How-
ell, John Winner, James Hopkins, Joseph Bolton, Jere-
miah Higbee, Jonathan Steelman, William Smith, Amos
Ireland, Enoch Allen, Thomas Somers, Edmund Brewer,
John B. Morgan, John Steelman, John Collins, Richard
Westcott, Daniel Steelman, James Hurley, Amos Cooper,
132 NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
William Ford, Enoch Leeds, Joseph Cooper, Joseph Col-
lins, Samuel Harrison, Jacob Albertson, James Wilkins,
Arthur Reeves, David Paul, Isaac Somers, Nehemiah
Steelman, Richard Borden, Ephraim Tomlinson, James
Hinchman, Archibald Moffett, Elijah Cozens, William
Todd, Elijah Clark, David Davis, Thomas Thorn, Joseph
Champion, Samuel Hugg, John Jessup, Joseph Reeves,
John Haines, George Van Leer, Thomas Somers, David
Sayres, David Clark, Edmund Cordery, Edward Gibbs,
John Stevens, Samuel French, William White, Joshua
Leeds, Jeremiah Higbee, Joseph Burrough, Marmaduke
Cooper, William Hugg, Benjamin Whitall, James Scull,
Felix Leeds, Joseph Johnson, George Sparks, Samuel
Cozens, Samuel Tonkin, Samuel Stokes, Samuel Cooper,
James Sloan, Jonathan Marker, Frederick Steelman, Rich-
ard Higbee, John Smith, Isaac Stephens, Edmund Ireland,
Charles French, Joseph Mickle, Samuel P. Paul, Joseph
Dalher, Samuel W. Harrison, John Wood, Phineas Lord,
Enoch Allen, Jeremiah Wood.
During this period also, these persons served as
Clerks of the Board, and County Collectors of the County :
County Collectors Samuel Clement, Jr., John Wil-
kins and Joel Westcott.
Clerks Samuel Harrison, Samuel Spicer, Joseph
Hugg, John Griffith, Elijah Cozens, William White, John
Blackwood, John Wilkins, Thomas Wilkins, James Strat-
ton, Joseph Cooper, Jacob Jennings, Samuel W. Harrison,
Benjamin Rulon.
The Gloucester County Board of Freeholders records
continue down to the present time but it has not been
thought desirable to crowd this book with extracts later
than the year 1800, although much of interest appears
after that date.
James B. Cooper, A Hero of Two Wars*
Soldier in Revolutionary War; Sailor in War of 1812
James B. Cooper, or plain James Cooper as his name
appears on the muster roll of the first troop, Lee's Legion,
Continental Troops, Revolutionary War, was born at
Cooper's Point, Camden, N. J., in 1761, and enlisted Feb-
ruary i, 1779, for three years.
In the archives of the Bureau of Pensions, it is re-
corded that "J ames B. Cooper enlisted in the Continental
Line, and served to the end of the Revolutionary War, at
which period he was a private in James Armstrong's First
Troop of Colonel Lee's Partisans, Legion of Light
Dragoons."
Lee's Legion was originally composed of Virginians,
but while it was serving in the vicinity of Camden and
Haddonfield, one hundred Jerseymen were enlisted and
mustered into the Legion, two of whom, James B.
Cooper and John Mapes, died in Haddonfield.
The commander of this Partisan Legion was Henry
Lee, of Virginia. He entered the service in 1776, at the
command of a company of Virginia volunteers, and had
distinguished himself in scouting parties, and harrassing
the enemy's pickets. His adventurous exploits soon won
for him the popular appellation of "Light Horse Harry."
Environment had much to do with James Cooper's
enlistment. Born a Friend, reared under Friends' in-
fluence, opposed to war and bloodshed, he was subject to
many temptations to forego those principles of peace
which had been instilled into him from early childhood.
Living at Cooper's Point, in Camden, N. J., directly
opposite Philadelphia, where American or British soldiers
were constantly to be seen, his father's house occupied
either by the Continental or British forces all the earlier
* By WALLACE McGsoRGE, M. D.
134 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
years of the Revolution, it is no wonder that despite the
commands of his father and the earnest and loving solici-
tations of his mother, he forsook the principles of Friends,
choosing rather to serve his country as a soldier than to
continue neutral and passive during the struggle for free-
dom. Although only a stripling in his eighteenth year,
he ran away from home, enlisted and became a Dragoon.
Early in the summer, Lee's Legion was ordered to
the northern part of this State and the river counties in
New York, and in July, 1779, as a volunteer, he took part
in the storming and capture of Stony Point, by Mad An-
thony Wayne.
General Wayne was the officer picked out by Wash-
ington for this daring work, and he readily assented. It
is a popular tradition that when Washington proposed to
Wayne the storming of Stony Point, the reply was:
"General, I'll storm hell, if you will only plan it." To
which Washington is said to have replied, "Suppose you
try Stony Point first."
One of the engagements in our State in which Lee's
Legion was victorious was the capture of Paulus Hook,
in what is now Jersey City. Major Lee in his scoutings
had discovered that the British post at Paulus Hook, im-
mediately opposite New York, was very negligently
guarded. Paulus Hook at that time was a long, low point
of the Jersey shore stretching into the Hudson, and con-
nected to the mainland by a sandy isthmus. A fort had
been erected on it, and it was garrisoned with five hun-
dred men under Major Sutherland. It was a strong posi-
tion. A creek fordable only in two places rendered the
Hook difficult of access. Lee had discovered these fea-
tures, and he had proposed to Washington the daring
plan of surprising the fort at night. The commander-in-
chief was pleased with the project and consented to it,
stipulating that Lee was to "surprise the post, bring off
the garrison immediately and effect a retreat."
On August 18, 1779, Lee set out with three hundred
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 135
of Lord Stirling's division and a troop of dismounted
dragoons. Between two and three o'clock, on the morn-
ing of August 19, Lee arrived at the creek. It hap-
pened fortunately that the British commanders had the
day before dispatched a foraging party to a part of the
country called the English Neighborhood, and as Lee
and his men approached they were mistaken by the sen-
tinel for this party on its return. The darkness of the
night favored the mistake, and our troops passed the
creek and ditch, entered the works unmolested and had
made themselves masters of the post before the garrison
was well roused from sleep. Major Sutherland and
about sixty Hessians threw themselves into a small block
house on the left of the fort and opened an irregular
fire. To attempt to dislodge them would have cost too
much time. Alarm guns from ships in the harbor, and
the forts at New York, threatened speedy reinforcements
to the enemy. Having captured one hundred and fifty-
nine prisoners, Lee returned without trying to destroy
either the barracks or artillery. He had achieved his
object, a coup-de-main of signal audacity. Few of the
enemy were slain for there was but little fighting and no
massacre. His own loss was two men killed and three
wounded. James Cooper was one of the dismounted
dragoons. A beautiful monument in Jersey City marks
the spot where this struggle occurred.
In 1781 General Washington removed General Gates
from the command of the Southern army, and appointed
General Nathaniel Greene in his place. "Light Horse
Harry" with his legion were transferred from the North-
ern army and sent south to aid Greene in his arduous task
and for the rest of the war the Legion was engaged in
the wresting of the Southern States from the British
army. Private Cooper took part in the battles of Guil-
ford Court House and Eutaw Springs.
In the battle of Eutaw Springs, which was fought on
September 8, 1781, Lee's Legion was assigned to the duty
136 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
of covering the right flank, and Armstrong's troops, in
which Cooper served, led the advance.
As the English retreated next day after destroying
many of their stores the victory was considered to be
ours. The American loss was very heavy in this pro-
longed battle and this may have been the place to which
Captain Cooper referred when he told his friend John
Redfield, of Gloucester, that he stood in the battle when
every third man was killed.
During the entire Revolutionary War, Congress only
voted six gold medals for bravery in action, and three
of those were to General Wayne, for his storming of
Stony Point; to Light Horse Harry for his surprise of
Paulus Hook, and to General Greene for his victory at
Eutaw Springs, and in each of these three engagements
Private Cooper was one of the men who helped to win.
Which only proves the statement that when a Quaker
does fight, he fights well. What other private or officer
had a better record in the entire war ?
Prowell's History of Camden County says Cooper
assisted in the storming of Forts Mott, Granby and Wat-
son, all of which surrendered to Light Horse Harry.
Private Cooper was once sent with dispatches to General
Washington, and on another occasion with a flag of truce
to the British commander, showing the esteem in which he
was held by his leader.
After the Revolutionary War was over James B.
Cooper adopted a seafaring life, and rose to the command
of some fine ships sailing from Philadelphia.
In 1805 he organized a company of cavalry from
the young men of Haddonfield and Woodbury, and was
elected its captain. It was from this circumstance that
Cooper got his title of Captain.
In the War of 1812 Cooper accepted the position
of sailing master in the navy, and was in charge of the
gun boats on the New Jersey coast, to guard against the
depredations of the British cruisers. This was a danger-
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 137
ous task, for his vessel was inferior in guns, and it was
his duty when he discovered the foe, by his superiority
in sailing, to notify the American frigates so they could
meet the enemy.
Through the Bureau of Navigation at Washington,
I have been enabled to secure the following data as to
Commander Cooper's services in the United States Navy :
1812, July 9. Warranted a sailing master in the Navy
this date. Appointed from New Jer-
sey.
1815, May 26. Promoted to Acting Lieutenant.
1816, Aug. 9. Ordered to report to Commodore Mur-
ray for duty.
1822, Jan. 10. Ordered to Philadelphia on duty.
1822, April 22. Promoted to Lieutenant from this date,
and ordered to report for duty at Bal-
timore.
1832, July 5. Ordered to the Navy Yard, at New
York.
1832, Nov. 5. Detached from the Navy Yard, New
York, and granted two months' leave
of absence.
1834, May 23. Appointed to the Naval Asylum, Phila-
delphia.
1838, Aug. 13. Granted three-months' leave, which was
renewed Nov. 16, 1838; Feb. 22,
1839; May, 1839.
1839-1840-1841. He was granted six months' leave of ab-
sence continuously till September 8,
1841, when he was promoted to Com-
mander from this date.
1854, Feb. 5. Died this day at Haddonfield, New Jer-
sey.
On July 5, 1828, nearly fifty years after his enlist-
ment in the Continental army, a pension was allowed him.
After his retirement from the command of the Naval
9
138 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
Asylum at Philadelphia, he returned to his home in Had-
donfield, where he spent the remainder of his days.
Captain James B. Cooper was the last survivor of
Lee's Legion, dying seventy-five years and four days after
he was mustered into the service of his country in his
ninety-third year.
In his death, as in his life, he was unfortunately the
cause of the animadversion of Friends. Having a son
who was an Admiral in the Navy, and on account of his
military and naval service in two wars, he was buried
with military honors. Soldiers and sailors took part, the
Naval Reserves coming from Philadelphia for this pur-
pose. Here, again, there was a conflict between Church
and State, or between principles and affection. The sol-
diers and sailors followed his remains on foot to the
Friends' Meeting House Burying Ground, in Haddon-
field, and fired a salute over his grave, to the horror of
many Friends. What with flags flying and guns firing,
it was a sorry day for many rigid orthodox Quakers.
Even in his family there was a divided feeling. The
widow, proud of her departed hero, acquiesced in the de-
sire of his military and naval friends, and followed his re-
mains to the grave in this military parade, while the
widow's sister was so horrified at this vain pomp that
she stayed at home, and would not even look upon this
wicked show. Many young Friends and the world's peo-
ple enjoyed this unusual spectacle as a mark of respect
to this grand old man, and a grand-daughter, who was
then only a little child, said she liked to see the soldiers
and the flags, and thought it was just the thing. No stone
marks the grave of this grand old man.
General Franklin Davenport*
Franklin Davenport was born in Philadelphia, but
spent his boyhood in Gloucester County, New Jersey, and
during the Revolutionary War enlisted in Captain Sam-
uel Hugg's company of artillery, which was attached to
Colonel Newcomb's brigade.
His company took part in the defence of Fort Mifflin
when it was besieged by the British Army and Navy.
We cannot say he was "one of the men behind the
guns" because in those days cannon were not breech load-
ing, and the gunner had to stand in front to load his gun,
and expose himself to the fire of sharpshooters. All
through that bloody siege he passed unharmed, and before
the close of the war he rose to be captain of a company
of artillery.
After the war he settled in Woodbury, and is said to
be the first lawyer who lived and practiced there. When
the office of Surrogate was created, Governor William
Livingston appointed him Surrogate for Gloucester
County and he took the oath of office before Judge John
Wilkins, February 15, 1785, practicing law all the time
he was Surrogate. He was among the original trustees
of Woodbury Academy, which was erected in 1791, and
also among the original members of the Woodbury
Library Company, instituted in 1794.
Franklin Davenport maintained his connection with
the State militia, and on Tuesday, October 21, 1794, under
orders from Governor Richard Howell, he marched as
Lieutenant Colonel and acting Colonel with his regiment
from Trenton to Pittsburg, Pa., and assisted in putting
down the whiskey rebellion. This was the first armed re-
sistance to the Federal authorities and President George
Washington called out fifteen thousand militia from Penn-
* By WALLACE MCGEORGE, M. D.
140 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
sylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia to suppress
this armed opposition to the collection of a revenue tax on
whiskey. History tells us that Governor Howell went
with the New Jersey troops and was the first Governor
who served as Commander-in-Chief of the State militia,
while in actual service. He was appointed by General Lee
to command the right wing of the army, and Colonel
Franklin Davenport was commandant of the First New
Jersey Regiment.
While he was away with his regiment the December
term of court was held and the following unique notice
appears in the records of the Surrogate's OfHce.
December Term, 1794.
Present.
No Business.
The Surrogate of the County of Gloucester (Frank-
lin Davenport) having marched from Trenton, New Jer-
sey, through Pennsylvania, to Pittsburg, as Colonel Com-
mandant of a detachment of New Jersey militia, consist-
ing of seven hundred and twenty-four, rank and file, with
a double proportion of field and staff officers, by order
of the President of the United States, George Washing-
ton, to assist in quelling an insurrection raised by the
Patriots of the day.
FKN. DAVENPORT,
January, 1795.
NOTE. I left Woodbury the i8th September, 1794,
and returned home the last of December following.
F. DAVENPORT.
A vacancy occurring in the United States Senate on
December 5, 1798, he was appointed United States Sena-
tor from New Jersey by Governor Richard Howell the
same day, and served until February 14, 1799, when the
Legislature elected James Schureman to fill the unexpired
term.
NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 141
In the regular election held in November, 1798, he
was elected to the Sixth Congress for this Congressional
district, serving from March 4, 1799, to March 4, 1801.
At the organization of the Gloucester County Bible
Society in the Academy, at Woodbury, in April, 1816, he
was elected Vice-President and one of its Board of Mana-
gers and continued in these positions until 1827, when
he was elected President, and he was re-elected every year
thereafter till his death.
He was prominent in public affairs in his home vil-
lage of Woodbury, was one of the Trustees of the Acad-
emy in Woodbury in 1820 and the minutes of the
Woodbury Presbyterian Church state :
"At a meeting of the Trustees of the Presbyterian
Church at Woodbury, at the Academy, on the nineteenth
day of February, 1820, a deed was presented to them from
the Board of Trustees of the Woodbury Academy, signed
by Franklin Davenport, their President, by which they
convey and assure to the Trustees of the Presbyterian
Church, and their successors in office, the free use and en-
joyment for the celebration of Divine Worship, of the
lower room of the lower story of the Woodbury Academy,
so long as the present building shall stand, and also the
use of the bell of the said Academy."
Woodbury Academy was erected on Broad Street
opposite where the Presbyterian Church stands and at that
time was the only edifice at all suitable for religious wor-
ship.
At the public auction of pews on March I3th, 1820,
Franklin Davenport bid $40 for Pew No. 10, the highest
price bid at this sale, and at a meeting of the Presbyterian
congregation, held August 31, 1822, for the purpose of
calling a minister, Franklin Davenport was present and
assisted in the call. But this old soldier, when he found
that his sister Deborah had left the family silver service
to the Presbyterian Church for a communion set without
getting his consent, obstinately refused to concur and
142 NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
though the session appointed two of his old friends, Dr.
B. P. Howell and Dr. Joseph Fithian, to visit him and
reason with him, they were unsuccessful, Dr. Howell
subsequently reporting that he would not give up the
silver, and he probably never did.
His home and office were in a frame building that
stood just south of Paul's Hotel, and were torn down by
Jos. Paul, when he built the brick building south of that
hostelry. Franklin Davenport and wife and his sister
Deborah lived there until their decease.
He was one of the Judges of the Court of Common
pleas in the county for many years, and his name will be
found among those present at each term, in the court
records. The last entry of his name in the proceedings of
the Court of Common Pleas, also in the Orphans' Court,
is in the June term, 1832.
He died July 27, 1832, and is probably buried in the
Presbyterian Burying Grounds in North Woodbury, but
his grave is unmarked and cannot certainly be found.
General Franklin Davenport, as he was always
called after 1794, served his state and country in his day
and generation, dying in the harness and yet no one can
tell where his remains were placed at rest. An armchair
that he used to sit in is now owned by Rev. Edward
Dillon, of Woodbury, and this is all that I can find that
once belonged to this gallant soldier and statesman.
Colonel Thomas Heston*
Colonel Thomas Heston, an officer of the War of the
Revolution, whose remains are interred in the burial
grounds of Trinity Church, Swedesboro, N. J., was born
in Hestonville, Penna., in 1753. He entered the army in
1776 as First Lieut. 8th Co., 3rd Battalion, Philadelphia
troops (Col. Jacob Morgan's regiment).
He was with Washington when he crossed the Dela-
ware the following December and took part in the battle
of Trenton and eventually reached the rank of Colonel.
His brother Edward also served during the War of
Independence and attained the same rank.
At the close of the war, Edward returned to Phila-
delphia and was a member of the State Senate for eight
years and Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the
City of Philadelphia for four years. He died in 1824.
The Heston family came from the village of Heston,
Middlesex County, England, in 1684. The immigrant
ancestor was Zebulon Heston. He settled in what is now
a part of Philadelphia known as Hestonville.
Col. Thomas Heston married Hannah Clayton in
1775, and at the close of the War of Independence, he and
Thomas Carpenter, of Philadelphia, a relative who had
also served during the war, purchased the glass works at
Glassboro, N. J., which had not been operated for some
years because of the war, and began the manufacture of
glassware.
This partnership was continued until Colonel Hes-
ton's death, which occurred in 1802. The Colonel was in
charge of the works and Thomas Carpenter, who resided
at Carpenter's Landing (now Mantua), attended to the
shipping of the manufactured wares to Philadelphia by
* By THOS. W. SYNNOTT.
144 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
vessel and received supplies for the factory which were
forwarded to Glassboro by teams.
Brig. Gen'l Louis Henry Carpenter, U. S. A., who
died in Philadelphia in 1916, was born in Glassboro in
1839, and was a grandson of Thomas Carpenter.
The works at Glassboro were long known as "Hes-
ton's Glass Works." After Colonel Heston's death, in
1802, the property changed hands a number of times, and
in 1835 Thomas H. Whitney, a grandson of Colonel
Thomas Heston, acquired an interest in the plant and later
it was operated by John P. Whitney and Thomas W.
Synnott, great-grandsons of Colonel Heston under the
firm name of Whitney Brothers.
Colonel Heston was a member of the First City
Troop of Philadelphia and the Gloucester County Fox
Hunting Club, organizations that furnished many officers
during the war for independence.
The following account of Colonel Heston's funeral
appeared in a Philadelphia paper published at the time.
"New Jersey, Gloucester Co.,
"Died on Wednesday, October 13, 1802, Colonel
Thomas Heston, at his country seat in Glassborough, N.
J., after a 'short illness, which he bore with Christian forti-
tude and resignation.
"In the death of this excellent man the army has lost
a brave soldier, society a valuable monument, religion and
liberty deprived a sincere and strong support, the widow
of an affectionate companion, his children a pious and ten-
der father.
"Captain Brown's Infantry and Captain Pissant's
Cavalry, with officers, accompanied the friends and re-
mains to Trinity Church, Swedesborough, N. J., in pro-
cession, Captain Pissant's troop of horse, order and arms
reversed.
"Trumpeter and trumpet in mourning.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 145
"Captain Robert Brown's company of Light Infan-
try, order and arms reversed.
"Drums and Fifes in mourning.
"Major of Brigade.
"Clergymen and physicians.
"Bier, supported by officers and mourning citizens.
"When procession arrived at Church ranks opened
and faced inward, through which the bier and procession
passed.
"After service was read, a very touching discourse
was delivered by Reverend (Henry) John Croes, from
Psalm 23-4. Though I walk through the valley and
shadow of death, I fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy
rod and thy staff, they comfort me.'
"When the troops formed again and moved to the
grave, where they deposited the remains of their much
esteemed officer and friend, after which three rounds of
musketry were discharged by Captain Brown's company.
"The elegant and effective appearance of the troops
with the most affectionate and respectful conduct of the
officers on this solemn occasion demands our praise."
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The Indian King*
The Indian King is situated on the old King's
Highway, in the center of the historic town of Haddon-
field, N. J. It was built in 1750, by Matthias Aspden,
a native of England, who became a merchant and ship-
owner in Philadelphia, and lived for many years in that
city and in Haddonfield.
On the site of the building was born, in 1730,
Colonel Timothy Matlack, of the Revolutionary Army,
Free Quaker, at one period Commissary General of the
Army, and after the war, Master of the Rolls of Penn-
sylvania.
The Indian King was a famous village inn from
1750 until Haddonfield had become a prohibition town
about 1880, and was the very centre of the village life.
Here in the early days the militia were mustered, the
local elections were held, and the leading men of the
village gathered to discuss national or local affairs. Here
the stage-coaches for Egg Harbor and other distant
points stopped for refreshments.
In the Revolutionary War period the First As-
sembly of the State of New Jersey, driven from Trenton
and Princeton by the movements of the armies, held ses-
sions in the Indian King from January 29th, 1777, to
March i8th, 1777; from May 7th, 1777, to June 7th,
1777, and from September 3rd, 1777, to October nth,
1777.
In this building, in May, 1777, the Committee which
had been appointed by the Assembly to prepare a State
Seal, made its report and the Great Seal of the State of
New Jersey was formally adopted.
Therein, by an Act of Assembly dated March I5th,
1777, the Council of Safety of New Jersey was created.
* By JAMES L. PENNYPACKER.
148 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
This body began its meetings in this building March i8th,
1777. It met therein again from May loth to June Qth,
and again on September I2th, and on September 22nd.
Therein, on September 2Oth, 1777, was passed an
Act to the effect that "From and after the Publication of
this Act all Commissions and Writs which by the Con-
stitution are required to run in the name of the COLONY
shall run in the name of the STATE of New Jersey." This
was the official recognition by the Assembly of the
colony's independence and the formal christening of the
State of New Jersey.
During the Revolutionary War period the Inn was
owned by Hugh Creighton. He was the uncle of Dorothy
Todd (nee Payne) who at that time, having broken away
from her maiden life, was a gay young widow in Phila-
delphia. She often visited her uncle in Haddonfield, and
John Clement, then a young man, used, in his old age,
to tell his son, the late John Clement, President of the
Historical Society of New Jersey, tales of the merry
dances at which Dolly Todd was hostess, and of the
sleighing parties with the village beaux in which she par-
ticipated. Soon she married and became "Dolly" Madi-
son, and has come down to us through many a legend as
the most charming mistress that ever graced the official
social life in Washington.
There are interesting military letters dated at
Haddonfield written by Wayne, Greene, Lafayette,
Pulaski, Weddon, Varnum, Ogden, Joseph Ellis and
other officers of the American Army, and there are
orders, letters and journals of Sir Henry Clinton, Corn-
wallis, Major Andre and others of the British Army. No
doubt some of these were written in the Indian King,
and no doubt all of these men trod its oaken floors.
During its long time of hospitality the old Inn stood
under a number of signs and names. The earliest known
and probably the original name, "The Indian King," ap-
pears in a newspaper advertisement in 1764.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 149
Recognizing the interest and importance of the
events which had happened within its walls, the State
Legislature, in 1902, created a Commission to purchase
and care for the building, and later made appropriations
for this purpose and for its restoration. From year to
year there is a growing interest in its history and a con-
stant increase in the number of its visitors.
WOODBURY FIRE ENGINE, BUILT 1799.
The Woodbury Fire Company*
The citizens of Woodbury early in 1799 started a
Fire Company, and collected funds for the purpose of a
fire engine, which was delivered July 8th, 1799, at a cost
of 135. This now venerable relic is in possession of
Friendship Fire Company, successors to Woodbury Fire
Company, and is highly prized by the firemen of Glouces-
ter County. On gala occasions it is gorgeously deco-
rated and the great grandchildren of the founders of the
Woodbury Fire Company take prominent parts in the
firemen's parades in the towns of Southern New Jersey.
Benjamin W. Cloud has been a member of the
Friendship Company since March 25, 1854, and while
he does not fight fires to-day, generally manages to be on
the ground. Samuel H. Ladd, present Mayor of Wood-
bury, joined the company October 25, 1877. His father
and grandfather were both members of the company.
The early books of Woodbury Fire Company seem
to be missing, but the rules and regulations of April 13,
1799, revised and amended to March 28, 1808, still hang
in the present Fire House.
Each member was requested to provide himself at
his own expense two leather buckets, one bag containing
three yards of linen at least three-quarters of a yard wide.
The buckets and bags had to be kept in their dwellings in
view of the front door. Suitable fines were imposed for
all kinds of delinquencies, and any members deemed
unworthy of membership could be expelled by a two-
thirds vote of the membership. There are forty-four
names on the printed regulations. The last are added
with pen and ink :
Franklin Davenport, Benj. Rulon, Ephraim Miller,
Samuel Ladd, Anthony Allen, Mark Brown, John Jes-
* By FRANK H. STEWART.
152 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
sup, Duncan Campbell, John Reeve, Samuel Mickle,
Amos Cooper, Henry Rulon, Jr., James Saunders, James
Matlack, Samuel Chatham, Joshua Ladd Howell, Wil-
liam Brick, Samuel Webster, John Moore White, Thomas
Wilkins, Isaac Ballenger, David C. Wood, Richard Snow-
den, James B. Caldwell, Dayton Lummis, Moreton Stille,
Eli Ayres, Robert Roe, John Reeves, Isaac M. Cooper,
Job Brown, Saml. C. Hopkins, John Shivers, Oliver
Davis, Benj. Whitecar, Thos. Saunders, Amos Campbell,
Apollo Woodward, Daniel J. Packer, Charles Ogden,
Ephraim N. Daniels, William Lawrence, William Sailor,
Joseph C. Smith.
An original subscription list showing the names
and amounts of a few of those who contributed is given
in full herewith.
"We, the subscribers not being able from the re-
moteness of our situations from the town of Woodbury,
to become and act as members of a fire company es-
tablishing in that place, but willing to promote and aid so
laudable an institution, do hereby engage each for himself
and herself to pay unto Benjamin Rulon, Treasurer of
the Woodbury Fire Company, the sums of money an-
nexed to our respective names, for the useful and
benevolent purposes of assisting in the purchase of a
fire Engine, Ladders and Hooks for the said town and
company, and we promise to pay the same in ten days
after the said Engine shall have been brought to Wood-
bury.
"Witness our hands, 27th April, 1799.
"Engine delivered, 8 July, 1799.
John Sparks $20
John Jessup 20
John Wilkins 30
James B. Caldwell 5
Michael C. Fisher 5
F. Davenport 8
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 153
John Blackwood $5
John Pissant 3
Isaac Crim 2
Thos. Wilkins 2
Samuel Whitall 8
James Cooper 5
John Tatum, Jr 4
Joseph Reeves 3
Joseph Whitall 5
Mary Cooper 3
10
TATUNI OAK, MT. ROYAL.
This Is one of the oldest trees In Southern New Jersey. In 1917
measurements of the tree were as follows: Height, 92 feet;
Girth, 6 feet above ground, 27 feet; Girth at 2 feet above
ground, 32 feet; Spread of Branches, 110 feet.
Samuel Mickle's Diary*
Samuel Mickle. the son of Samuel and L/ettlcia Mickle, was born
7 mo. 1 day, 1746. O. S., and died 3 mo. 31 day, 1830. His wife was
the daughter of Robert Friend and Hannah Price. She was born
2 mo. 13 day, 1748. O. S. ( and died 10 mo. 13 day, 1809.
On the 28th of November, 1792, Samuel Mickle, of
Woodbury, commenced to keep a diary, and between that
date and July 19, 1829, he recorded an immense amount
of important historical and genealogical data. Alto-
gether there are five books written in a perfectly plain,
neat, legible, almost microscopic hand, containing seven
hundred and fifty pages. The books are now in the
possession of Miss Anna Mickle, and to her I am in-
debted for the privilege of making one hundred and fifty
pages of hand-written manuscript from which these
printed facts are taken.
For the sake of brevity it was necessary to omit
the names of many of those who merely lodged or dined
with him, as well as those whom he visited. He kept an
open house and nearly every day he mentions the names
of those at his home. Many young persons, principally
relatives, lived with him while they attended the schools
of Woodbury.
His diaries make constant mention of his daily activ-
ities in looking after his home, investments, and the
various properties he owned. He was of a literary and
religious turn of mind, and profuse poetical quotations
and prayerful meditations abound in all of the five books.
He was Clerk of the Friends' Meeting of Wood-
bury, member of the Fire Company, Abolition Society,
Gloucester County Bible Society, Library Company, look-
ed after Deptford Free School and many of the other
public affairs of the community.
If there was any public movement for the general
welfare of the people in which Samuel Mickle of Wood-
*By FRANK H. STEWART.
156 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
bury, as he often signed his name, to distinguish himself
from his cousins, was not an active participant or pro-
moter, I must confess I know nothing about it.
I am inclined to believe there is not another diary
in America to-day that is so complete in genealogical
data. It is not an uncommon thing to find him describ-
ing persons as the grand-parents or grand-children of
others. As Clerk of the Friends' Meeting he recorded
the births, deaths and marriages, and he cultivated the
habit of inquiring the age of old people and recording
their ages in his diaries.
As a matter of fact his whole diary should be pub-
lished word for word. He was related to many of the
leading families of the community, and to-day many of
the family names he recorded still profusely exist in
Old Gloucester.
He evidently began to keep a diary at the time he
gave up merchandising, and it is a peculiar fact that no-
where in his diary does he refer to his household expense
books still in existence, and only incidentally to his store-
keeping experiences.
During the first years of his diary he was in deli-
cate health and did not expect to live very long. In his
old age his infirmities seemed to make him physically un-
comfortable. We of to-day are fortunate that Samuel
Mickle lived to a good old age and that his executors did
not destroy his diaries as he suggested.
He starts his fascinating diary with a quotation :
"With pleasure let us own our errors past
And make each day a critic on the last."
"A soul without reflection, like a pile
Without inhabitant, to ruin runs."
E. R., p. 285.
"The 28th of n mo. 1792, on reading part of Wm.
Penn's advice to's children's children entitled 'Fruits of a
Father's Love' the 4th last lines of ye 2ist section p. 30
particularly drew my attention but not with an expecta-
tion of putting it fully in practice * * * * '
NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 157
"And to be more exact, for much lies in this : Keep a
short journal of your time; though a day require but a
line many advantages flow from it."
Diary No. 1, 11-28, 1792, to 4 mo. 10, 1802, 198 pages
Diary No. 2, 4-14, 1802, to 6 mo. 4, 1812, 188 pages
Diary No. 3, 6-6, 1812, to 9 mo. 18, 1818, 90 pages
Diary No. 4, 9-20, 1818, to 4 mo. 24, 1826, 180 pages
Diary No. 5, 4-28, 1826, to 7 mo. 19, 1829, 94 pages
750 pages
These figures are my own.
F. H. S.
1792
12 / 3. At funeral of one of Jos. Hews's sons, a lad of
about 1 6.
12 / 6. Cous. Job Whitall here a little while in morning.
12 / 8. Hope Allen and my dear wife returned from
Phila with acct of Sam'l Emlen and Sarah
Harrison on religious visit to Familes in Dub-
lin, Ireland.
12/15. Mary Carson widow about 2 miles from Wood-
bury died last night.
1 2/1 8. Amos and Sarah Cooper here on way to Mary
Carson. He with John Tatum, Jr. left by
her late husband Wm. Carson dec'd as guard-
ians to his children.
12/22. Uncle David Cooper and cousin Sarah Cooper,
Isaac Collins and wife and Jno. Collins and
wife Charity here.
12/24. Essayed writing me another will.
12/26. 'Small pox spreads about our neighborhood.
Dan'l Gregory and his daughter died of it last
week, taken in ye natural way.
12/27. Conveyancing being more agreeable than mer-
chandising to my inclination should prefer to
ye latter if a sedentary business suited my
health.
Daniel Smith and wife Leze late Price here on
their way to Death of ye Fox Inn. He has
sold it to Jeffry Clark.
158 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1792.
12/31. What a noise about ye neighborhood with firing
guns as if rejoicing that another year is gone.
One year nearer the grave and uncertain of
seeing the end of another.
1793
I/ 8. Made some preparations to visit Philada. to-
morrow morning having forgot ye report of
a Balloon intended to be raised there to mor-
row A. M. by Blanchard until my wife
being reminded of it at our neighbor Aaron
Thompson's, came home and told me this
evening also that all Woodbury almost was
going to see it which appearing likely to ob-
struct my business with some people there
have postponed going there.
1/9. Great ado with looking for and at the Balloon
which came I suppose within one mile from
and eastward of us at Woodbury and per-
haps YZ mile in height. This an instance of
the body also as well as the mind being in
ye air. Balloon is ye subject in almost every
quarter.
1/16. Andrew Hunter's black man Wm. died last night
of Quinsy.
1/17. Three burials to day viz. Jno. Barnes & Andw.
Hunters black man William in Presby Bur'l
Grd. and Benj. Hootens child in our grave
yard.
4/16. At Funeral of Andrew Hunters wife, much use-
less parade at funeral.
4/27. This being the day advertised for those to meet
at Courthouse who are friendly to abolition
of Slavery None but Jos. Clement, Franklin
Davenport, Jacob Wood, Thos. Carpenter,
Joseph Sloan, Joshua Howell, Job Kinsey
and myself met.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 159
1793-
4/29. Jas. Cooper said he heard in Phila last 7th day
27th that ye British vessel bound from Phila-
da to Great Britain was made prize by ye
French in Delaware Bay, and that our friends
Eliz. Drinker and Geo. Dilwyn & wife were
with their baggage set on shore by ye French.
This day proposed to Andrew Hunter and Doc-
tor Geo. W. Campbell that ye inhabitants of
Woodbury supply themselves with Fire
buckets, etc., and to set a subscription on foot
which they approved of.
4/30. Mentions legacy left by Cousin Hannah Morris
deceased of Philadelphia.
5/26. Moses Watson informs that Anthony Allen of-
fered him $11 per month to work for him at
Carpenter trade.
5/30. Doctor Thos. Hendrys wife's Aunt Henrietta
French on visit ye P. M. to my wife.
6/ 4. Copying off Constitution of New Jersey Aboli-
tion Society into Treasurer's account book
for ye County. (He was the Treasurer of
Abolition Society for Gloucester Co.)
6/1 8. Elizabeth Hinchman widow of Jno. came in
A. M. and staid till evening, says she was
born 1722-3, therefore about 70 years of
age.
6/20. Richard Howell spent part of P. M. (N. B.
Lately appointed Governor of ye State). In
evening came Elias Boudinot, Doct. Van
L,er and son Bernard, and Jos. Low on busi-
ness. Also Doctor Collins.
6/21. Deb'h Ruff wife of Dan'l Ruff (late Deb'h
Pratt) Rebecca Folwell with her 2 children
& Boy, Adam & Wm. Folwell's sister Ann
on visit. Also in Evening came Wm. Fol-
well.
160 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
I793-
7/13. A new pretence for a frolic has turned up for
our Woodburyians etc. who with others of
our neighborhood went to Glo'ster to cele-
brate ye Anniversary of French Indepen-
dence.
7/27. Amy Hunter and her sister Ruth Voorhies on
visit to my wife.
From time to time he describes yellow fever
epidemics, making candles, bottling cider,
currant wine, cutting hay, wood, planting
potatoes, weather, ill health, court, Friends'
Meetings, great entertainers, trips in chair to
Phila. & return, tending store, horseback
rides, religious sentiments, dreams, garden
work, fevers, pump, etc.
8/22. My beloved wife not so well, off & on of bed
and couch by turns. Exceedingly sickly in
town & country with ye influenza also ye pu-
trid or yellow fever is said to be in Phila of
which so many die, said to have been intro-
duced there by means of a cargo of damaged
coffee lately landed there.
8/30. The infection in Phila employs greatest part of
conversation in ye neighborhood. A corpse
on its way from Philada to Woodstown was
stopped in Woodbury detained and buried
last night in ye Presbyterian Burial Ground.
The bringing of it gave much umbrage to
ye people of ye place.
9/ i. Jonathan Wood & wife brought by water from
Phila this P. M. and interred in Woods
Burial Ground.
9/19. Anthony Sharp buried ye morning in Phila.
9/28. William Wilson wrote me at bottom of his bill :
Beloved Friend S. M. There are so many
stores shut up that I know not how to pro-
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 161
1793-
cure ye other articles mentioned in thy
order.
io/ 2. Accounts from Phila continue very alarming
and among ye many deaths mentioned is
that of my late master Jonathan Shoemaker.
io/ 6. Eli Brownson dec'd and buried of putrid fever
being ye first in Woodbury.
10/13. In P. M. went to Jno. Blackwoods I walked
about the place where ye Old Dwelling house
used to stand where my grandfather John
Mickle and uncle Jno. Mickle and cousin
John Mickle used to reside. Viewed trees
which I knew when young and thrifty like
myself. Could scarcely find the spot where
ye old house had stood and this poor totter-
ing body of mine here yet.
At this time the terrors of the yellow fever epi-
demic in Philada. and vicinity are fully de-
scribed, together with notices of many deaths
of his acquaintances in Woodbury & Philada.
and as late as Nov. 30 he records that the
pestilence still continues in Phila. in a few
instances.
On Dec. loth, 1793, he writes : Thus ends some
account of ye manner of employing (in too
many instances wasting) precious time up-
ward of a year.
On the next page 4 years afterward he writes :
Have had thot's at times for a year or two
past of resuming a Diary and particularly
ye 1 5th of 12 mo., 1797. Dec. 27, 97, I did
not expect to see ye time of life having been
complaining for about 28 years past and
scarcely one hour of that 28 yrs. free from
a degree of pain.
1 62 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1798
1/12. He mentions visit of Elias Hicks.
1/2 1. Josh'a Hopper, Jr., Inkeeper at Woodbury,
died. Age about 23 years.
1/27. Aunt Hannah Ladd deceased.
2/22. Visited Sarah Whitalls at Red Bank, the house
of mourning indeed, between n of Qth and
i8th of 10 mo last inclusive hath deceased
her husband Job Whitall, her husbands
mother, Ann, and children Job, Sarah and
Aaron Whitall and girl Sarah Burroughs.
Also other scenes of distress have been at
that place. Witness their fine apple orchard
cut down and ground dug up in great
trenches and works thrown up in erecting
a Fort there, their dwelling house walls bat-
tered in holes while the family were en-
deavoring to live quietly therein, fruits of a
battle between ye American & Hessian Sol-
diers in 1777 when after it I saw men lying
naked on ye ground except in part covered
with a little straw and some of them
with their limbs off having died of their
wounds.
3/ 3- Visited Depthford Free School.
5/13. Mary, widow of Solomon Lippincott (and
daughter of Ab'm Chattin a dec'd English-
man) dined. Very cheerful about 76 years of
age, entertained my dear wife and me with
accounts of old times or days of her youth
and respecting of those inhabitants, buildings
&c of this part of ye county.
6/18. Light horsemen exercising in sham fight along
Woodbury street.
8/ 9. Yellow fever in Philada.
8/22. Yellow fever at Oldmans Creek, Port Eliza-
beth, Thompsons Point and Haddonfield.
NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 163
1798.
9/12. Doctor Jno. Otto is recovering and about
again.
This day completes my 5ist year.
9/1 8. Isaac Saunders died of yellow fever in 24th
year of his age, at Woodbury.
Doctor Geo. W. Campbell and Sarah Kaighn
died 9-2-98.
9/30. Biddle Reeves recovered from yellow fever.
Oct. Deaths mentioned : Hannah Inskeep, Martin
Moody, Sam'l Townsend, Josiah Hopkins,
Abraham Gibbon, Robt. Kirkbride, Wm.
Jackson, Jas. Emlen, Hannah, wife of Jacob
Lindley, Mary Sharpless, Rebecca Cooper.
IO/ 9. Mentions Deborah Steward.
1799
2/22. An unusual noisy time about Woodbury ye P.
M. A very general parade of militia with
cannon and small arms drum & fife etc and
flag hoisted on top of ye Court house (Gen'l
Geo Washingtons birth day celebrated).
3/16. Went with Jno Reeve to an advertised meeting
at Jos Huggs tavern to establish a fire com-
pany in Woodbury and its neighborhood,
made some progress and adjourned to ye
day 2 weeks 2 P. M. to meet at ye Acad-
emy.
3/1 8. Report says 2 or 3 counties in Penna revolt
against government, also accounts from
other points of ye United States threaten
trouble.
3/24. Peter Andrews of Little Egg Harbour brother
of Edward at meeting.
Mother in law Leze Smith late Price has been
ill at Egg Harbour lately, brought home yes-
terday.
164 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1799.
4/3-4. Went to Laddstown, Swedesborough and
Sculltown. Complains about noisy tavern.
4/ 5. Preparative meeting, no business except ordering
as subscription of 3o for encouragement of
lately proposed Fire Company in Woodbury.
The 2 Schools in Woodbury have subscribed
$40 each besides fire buckets and proposal is
to be made to ye board of Freeholders for 50
more by committee of Fire Co.
4/15, 16, 17, 18, 19. At Phila yearly meeting visited
friends and relatives viz. George Guests,
Elizabeth Fox, Mary Cresson, Sarah Shoe-
maker, Thos. Shoemaker, Geo. F. Alberti,
Wm. Folwell, Sam'l Richards Sr. and Jr.,
John Townsend, &c., &c.
Complains of poor health, always expecting
to die. Ailments like coughs, colds and
rheumatism. Doctors Lummis, Hendry and
Stratton mentioned.
5/ 3. Chalkley Albertson and Zachariah Dickson of
North Carolina inoculated for small pox at
Jos. Whitalls,
Friends meetings at Moorestown, Mullica Hill,
Crosswicks, Chestnut Ridge, Burlington,
and Phila Friends meetings mentioned all
through diary.
5/29. Various company all day.
6/ 3. Old age creeps on and little matters fatigue me.
May I be prepared for a better country.
6/ 9. Jno. E. Hopkins manager for building ye Clerk's
office opposite our house stays with us.
Drowsy, pains in back, head and neck.
6/10. Visited by old friend and former neighbors Wm,
Snowden and wife. Snowden now in his
7Oth year.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 165
1799.
6/1 8. My dear wife took ye widow of Elijah Clark
to Daniel Smiths and to Joshua Howells on
2oth visited Elisha Clark, his mother and
Joseph Reed of Mt. Holly being- there.
7/ i. Yellow fever in Phila.
7/ 9. Our Woodbury Fire Engine has arrived here
last evening. The attention of all Woodbury
was taken up in the exercising of it including
myself. Cost of it 135.
7/12. Visited Paul Cooper and saw the diary of a
pious woman Margaret Magdalen. It belongs
to Sarah Cresson. Maiden name of Margaret
Magdalen was Jasper.
7/1 8. Robert Haydock & Son Eden coppered ye roof
of ye Clerk's office today.
7/31. Visited Clonmell again.
8/1 1. David Sparks young man deceased also Samuel
Hinchman aged 18.
8/14. Visited by old friend Amy Hunter accompanied
by her nephew Andrew Hunter.
9/15. Surveying.
io/ 4. Wrote letter for Sarah Whitall (Redbank) to
her son Mark at Westown school.
9/15. Thos. Thorne Jr. married Mary Haines.
10/15. At Friends meeting.
I2/ 9. Wm. Abbott of Salem interred last 5th day.
1 2/1 8. Ricketts circus in Phila burnt last night when
about to act a diabolic scene.
12/26. Report says Geo. Washington late President
dec'd ye I4th inst. of an inflammatory sore
throat and short illness.
12/28. Military parade escorted our Gov. Howell to and
from Presbyterian meeting. Thos. Picton
minister.
1800
I / 3- Jesse Chew Methodist preacher interrupted sol-
emn meeting.
1 66 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1800.
i/ 6. Transcribing our last monthly meeting into ye
bound book as scribe to said meeting.
2/ i. Mary Kaighn widow of Samuel Kaighn interred
at Newton.
2/ 6. Read newspapers this P. M. A great overturn
of affairs in France. Napoleon Bonaparte
has returned from Egypt and taken ye lead at
Paris.
2/1 6. Read part of dear dec'd Daniel Stantons Jour-
nal. I have known him in my youthful days.
2/22. An unusual parade of military in Woodbury.
The Free Masons in their Masonic dress to
commemorate the death of Gen'l Geo. Wash-
ington and an oration delivered on ye occa-
sion at ye Court house by Parson John Croes
of Swedesborough. Woodbury Fire Co.
meeting ye P. M. present only 10 members
of 30.
2/26. Jane ye 2nd wife of Chas. West, dec'd.
3/ i. John Wistar on his way home from Philada
lodges and related several anecdotes of Sam'l
Emlen late deceased (one recorded about
Methodists).
Read current literature and Journals of the
times. Mentions many standard books.
3/23. Subpoenaed by Aaron Pancoast in a Land litiga-
tion.
4/ 5. As clerk to Fire Co. del'd Doct. Thos. Hendry
a copy of minutes of his expulsion from mem-
bership with said Co.
4/15. Most of ye day in company with Surveyors of
Roads on application of Edward Brewer for
a new straight road from a proposed new
bridge to be built over ye S. Branch of Great
Timber Creek, said road to extend thence to
central part of Woodbury say ye Court
House. Other notes about this road occur.
NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 167
1800.
4/30. Anna wife of Cousin Wm. Cooper and daugh-
ter of Mark Miller married only 4 months,
deceased last evening.
5/ 9- Jervis Johnson lately returned from a religious
visit to Canada at Preparative meeting.
5/13. James Saunders approved by meeting to take his
place as clerk. S. M. continued to record
marriages, births and burials.
5/15. On trip to Laddstown and Sculltown left wife
and chair at cousin Samuel Mickle and pro-
ceeded on horseback.
5/26. Beloved wife with cousin Hannah Whitall went
on Church business to Sandtown.
6/ 6. Again asked meeting to release him from care
of burying ground.
6/17. Visited by Keziah Mickle daughter of Jos., Mary
Cooper daughter of Amos.
7/12. Ebenezer Miller near Salem dec'd.
7/1 6. Hannah wife of Joseph Mickle dec'd.
8/12. Funeral of Ebenezer Cresson and Aaron Pan-
coast.
Missed monthly meeting for the first time since
it was established more than 1 5 years ago.
8/1 8. Dr. Thos. Hendry tells him he is tending
towards apoplexy or Palsey.
8/21. Zaccheus Test and Hannah Reeves married to-
day.
8/23. Yellow fever at Norfolk, New York and Balto.
and Fells point.
8/30. James Lee of near Maurice River about a week
ago while riding in a chair or sulky had his
horse killed by lightning. He was stunned
and felled across his dead horse about 12
miles from home.
1 68 NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1800.
9/ 5- Wife of Biddle Reeves, funeral.
9/10. Wm. Hutton age 70 whose father Jno. Hutton
lived to be no years old is building a new
house for Thos. Mann.
9/29. My dear wife went with cousin Sarah Hopkins
and her grand daughter Elizabeth, daughter
of Jas. Hopkins, Elizabeth widow of Benj.
Whitall and Sarah wife of Jno. S. Whitall, to
Joseph Whitalls.
io/ i. Introduced to Duncan Campbells father who
looked liked his son the late Doctor Geo. W.
Campbell. On 10/3 he mentions Benjamin
brother of Duncan.
10/23. Jas. Hinchmans barn struck by lightning and
consumed.
10/26. Mentions Jedediah Allen and wife, Solomon S.
Saunders and his intended wife, Lydia Bur-
roughs, Mary Lippincott, Rebecca Saunders
as guests.
1 1/ 9. Mary Miller deceased to-day.
12/12. Joshua Lord and Sarah Jessup married.
12/24. Election in Woodbury for members of Congress.
The Federals prevailed on Mary Saunders to
give her vote.
12/31. Noisy night with drums and guns. Read man-
uscript Journal of our dear deceased friend
Joshua Evans.
1801
1/30. Visited school with Benj. Roulon, Biddle
Reeves, Jas. and Paul Cooper.
2/15. Jno. Redman and wife and daughter Mary, De-
borah Steward and Letticia Craig, Lodge.
No entry between 2/20, 1801, and 4 mo. I, 1801,
when he writes, "I now resume my pen after having been
near the gates of Death, etc." Carefully describes his
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 169
sickness and Doctor Hendry's treatment. While he was
sick he first told his wife of this diary, giving her liberty
to destroy all or part of it after his decease.
1801.
4/20 & 21. Made catalogue of his books and pamphlets.
5/ i. Visited by Cousin Deborah wife of Jos. Hugg
and her sister Hester Matlack.
5/ 4. Went away in chair, visited Rebecca Lippin-
cott at Mullica Hill and her son Joshua Lip-
pincott, Thos. Battin and Jacob Haines, near
Sweedesborough.
5/10. Aaron H. Middleton & Deborah Whitall mar-
ried, Phineas Lord & wife together with S.
M. and wife overseers. Deborah was sister
of Mary Whitall, who married Robert Hop-
kins.
5/19. Visited Benj. Reeve sick at Job Tylers on way
to Salem, under care of Doctor Wister.
5/22. Joseph Sharp buried. He was father of boy
who lived with S. M., and who died a few
months previous.
6/ 9. Joseph Ogden and Sybil Tatum married.
6/16. Court Week. Many people in to-day, among
them Thos. Redman & wife, James Cooper,
Daniel Smith & his daughters Mary &
Elizabeth Smith, ye latter from Egg Harbor,
wife of Evi Smith.
6/17. Wrote to Andrew Hunter near Trenton, about
a mortgage on his land.
6/1 8. Joseph Hillman who removed from Woodbury
in Spring of 1800 returned yesterday a week,
died of consumption and was buried in the
Presbyterian Burial Ground.
7/ 2. Rachel Wilkins, wife of Isaac Wilkins and
daughter of Joseph Low, dec'd.
7/30. Joseph Eustace, mason, died this A. M.
ii
170 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1801.
8/17. My beloved wife appointed on a committee to
judge of suitableness of establishing a Prep-
arative Meeting at Maurice River.
8/28. Attended funeral of Jno. Matts at ye Strangers
burying ground.
9/ 4. Called on Franklin Davenport and his mother.
9/13. Mentions Dr. Win. Lummis.
9/24. Surveying proposed new road from Jas. Davis
(at Strawberry bank) to fall in near Wards
grave yard. Found it had been erroneously
staked off.
9/26. Ann Davenport, mother of Franklin Daven-
port, departed this life last night about mid-
night.
9/27. From meeting came Thos. Carpenter & wife
and their son Edward & wife, and in P. M.
my dear wife went with them in their wagon
to the Burial of Ann Davenport at Presby-
terian Burial Ground.
Wm. Goodwin buried on ist day last.
io/ i. Last week black Mingo deceased late belong-
ing to my deceased Father in law Robert
Friend Price. She was blind and incapable
of maintaining herself was boarded out.
10/18. John Hopper, Jr., son of Levi, deceased this
P. M.
Zatthu Whitalls wife Lydia, late Jones, dec'd.
10/27. Jos. Richards to be married to Margery John-
son in Phila.
12 / 7. An invitation to funeral of Jonathan Fisher,
Sr.
12/19. Visited Benj. Lovett. He and wife had gone
to Newton meeting held for first time in
their new brick meeting house on ye Ferry
road.
12/25. Hannah Lord, mother of Joshua, dec'd.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 171
1801.
12/25. Frequent mention of Sister Blanch Price.
Always writes my dear wife or my beloved wife
or my precious wife, never my wife, but
once.
1802
1/30. Mary Tatum, mother of Rachel wife of Levi
Hopper is still living, age 91 yrs.
2/1 1. Visited Joshua Lippincott, Robt. Cook, Dr.
Jas. Stratton also a court held at Stretch's
tavern by Stratton and Thos. Heston. Stop-
ped few minutes at Jacob Raines and Cousin
Sam'l Mickle.
2/17. Wrote and executed my will.
2/19. Old Neighbor Jno. Sparks, Sen'r, buried at
ye Presbyterian Burial Grounds. Large
number of people attended. Dec'd early
yesterday morning said to be in his 85th
year, born in summer of 1716.
2/24. Rec'd letter from Geo. F. Albertis ye P. M. giv-
ing account of the decease of his beloved
wife Hannah. Hannah Albertis was a half
sister of Mrs Mickle. She was buried in
the German Church ground. Henry Hel-
muth officiating 2-26.
2/27. Breakfasted at G. Guests, saw Nicholas Wain
about ground rents.
3/12. Joseph Tomlinson and Mary Cooper, daugh-
ter of Benjn. Cooper, late dec'd, married.
3/15. Visited by Mordecai Wetherill.
3/19. Joseph Reeves and Sarah Whitall, widow, mar-
ried.
3/25. Mark Brown's wife Ann, late Hopkins, died
of measles, buried on 27th in Woods Bur-
ial Ground.
First Vol. of diary, 198 pages, ends 4-101802.
172 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1802.
4/1 6. In Philada after Plaister, taking Hannah P.
Alberti daughter of George P. Alberti whom
he visited also Sam'l Morris, Sam'l Richards ;
was at the jail and lodged with cousin Geo.
Guest.
4/17. Rose early and was at Plaister mill up Market
Street before sun rise thence to breakfast at
G. Guests thence to Market St. Ferry and at
Jas. Lippincott thence to ye water reservoir
at ye Centre about i3th St. thence to ye Bet-
teringhouse, ye Hospital and to Elijah Har-
ker's below Spruce St. thence above 6th in
Race St. where I at length concluded to get
Plaister thence to Geo. F. Albertis, Negus
Ferry etc & etc.
5/27. He owned property near Swedesboro and made
occasional trips to collect money. On this
day he wrote : "wearied with my Swedesbor-
ough expedition. Almost determined some
time past to quit keeping a diary."
5/28. Aaron Thompson young man son of Sam'l
Thompson dec'd and interred in Wood's
Burial ground.
7/15. At Franklin Davenport's to engage ye refusal of
house next adjoining on this side for Cousin
Geo. Guest if he removes to Woodbury.
7/26. Thos. Reeves brother of Joseph Reeves of Red
Bank found dead in woods to day supposedly
killed by lightning.
7/29. Yellow fever again in Phila.
8/ 4. Geo. F. Alberti and his four other children
Maria, George, Charles and Edwin came to
Woodbury.
8/10. Mentions Forest View, so named by cousin
Eliz. Guest.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 173
1802.
8/1 1. Attended funeral of Joseph Murdock who deceas-
ed at home of his uncle Jno. S. Whitall.
The diaries mention thousands of visits made by
various persons, many of whom "lodged" with him.
Cousins E & A Guest returned with Wm ye son
of Thos Hancock from Elsinborough.
9/13. On an arbitration to day with my colleagues Jos.
Rogers of Waterford, Jno. Brick and Jer.
Wood Esqrs. and Math. Gill of Woolwich at
Jos. Heppards tavern Woodbury, between
Jas. Sloan next friend and on behalf of Han-
nah Wood Plaintiff wife of Zachariah Wood
late Liewallen of one part and Zackariah
Wood and his brother Henry Wood of other
part.
9/23. Wrote Sarah Bordens Will.
io/ 4. Doctor Geo. F. Alberti administered 25 drops
of Laud'm in wine whey to a sick man.
io/ 7. Chas. West interred to day at Newton.
10/23. George Guest deceased age 55 yrs i6th inst. In-
terred in Phila.
10/24. This day 26 years my beloved wife and I were
married.
10/26. Several died lately in neighborhood of Carpen-
ters Bridge also Jas. Fletcher at Barnesbor-
ough.
11/7. Jas. Gibson son of James buried in Friends
graveyard also Zatthu Whitall.
n/io. Surveyed and laid off a family burial ground
from and on part of Benj. Hoppers land.
11/19. Tacy wife of Samuel Jennings buried at Wood-
bury.
John Kay drowned himself in his mill pond
about a week ago.
174 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1802.
1 1/22. Visited Anna ye widow of Thos. Clifford dec'd
who is the 84th year of her age. Also cousin
Elizabeth Fox and my mistress Sarah Shoe-
maker in her 72 year, in Philada.
1 1/28. Candlemaking.
I2/ 4. Went in great haste by horse back to Thos. Saun-
ders wrote his will. In the evening his son
James reported his death. Buried in Wood-
bury on the 6th.
12/17. Sam'l Webster Jr. and cousin Sarah daughter
of Amos Cooper married to day.
12/22. Emanuel Devall dec'd.
12/25. Jb Kinsey, joiner dec'd.
12/31. School visitation upward of 50 scholars of whom
42 are writers.
Remarkable little firing of guns about our town.
1803
1/20. Jno. Lawrence's wife Mary Ann and Deborah
Davenport on visit to my wife.
Sarah Widow of Isaac Mickle Sr. dec'd.
1/25. Attended wedding of Thos. Clement son of
Sam'l Clement brick maker and Sarah Hop-
per daughter of Levi Hopper.
2/ 3. Went to Dan'l Smiths house at ye Windmill and
took notes for writing a lengthy will. Thun-
der storm.
2/19. Select Quarterly meeting. Hannah Clement
widow of Jno., Deborah Steward and Eliza-
beth wife of Charles French of Phila lodge.
2/23. At funeral of Sarah Borden. Produced and
read will to relatives.
3/17. This day 44 years (in 1759) the snow on ye
ground in the Deer park in ye woods being
then level was one yard deep the deepest
snow I ever remember.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 175
1803.
3/20. Sarah ye wife of Jas. Hinchman and daughter
of Joseph Morgan, is to be buried in Wood-
bury 22nd.
4/ 4. Wrote Blanch Prices will.
4/23. Rose 3 A. M. Went to Phila on horseback.
Cousin Elizabeth Fox informed me she was
born July ist 1729, old style.
5/ 8. Trees and bushes damaged by a wet snow.
Mentions other snow storms, May 5th, 1774; March
17, 1759, and March, 1764.
5/20. Lydia widow of Wm. Robinson dec'd.
5/27. Abigail Ellis widow of Joseph Ellis dec'd, to
meet at her son Samuel's at Glos'ter for fune-
ral.
6/ 2. Attended funeral of Geo. Brown 18 or 19 yrs
old son of Ashur.
Richard Miller of ye neighborhood of Salem
deceased yesterday at house of Joseph Bur-
roughs, interred at Haddonfield.
6/ 4. Friends School house at Woodbury struck by
lightning.
7/ 9. Reaping and cradling wheat.
7/17. Wrote will of Isaac Jones who is sick. He died
on the 1 9th.
7/26. Benj'n and Henry Rulons store broken last
night. One of the thieves' was caught in
Phila 4 days later and placed in Woodbury
jail.
8/ i. Sister Blanch Price deceased at home of Brother
Jos. Hinchman. Buried in Haddonfield.
8/ 3. Mentions Kays late Blackwoods mill.
8/24. Sold house and lot of Blanch Price to Isaac
Tomlinson of Haddonfield.
9/ 3. Preparative meeting. A subscription to raise
about $200 supposed to be about our quota of
Westowns School debt.
176 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1803.
9/ 3. Assisted in hauling hay.
9/12. My birth day. 58th year commenced.
9/23. Yellow fever at Phila, Chews Landing and Tim-
ber Bridge. John Anderson formerly inn
keeper at Woodbury who moved a few days
ago from Phila to Salem is since deceased of
it.
9/26. Funeral of Rebecca Redman wife of Thos. Red-
man Sr.
io/ 2. Sam'l Chatham and Rebecca Hillman married.
io/ 6. Judge Isaac Smith of Trenton here awhile in
A. M.
io/ 7. John Blackwood deceased last night, buried at
Haddonfield.
10/14. Our ancient neighbor Sam'l Harrison dec'd.
10/29. Desire Brown wife of Jos. Brown and sister of
Biddle Reeves deceased.
1 1/ 4. British Parliament passed an act exempting
Quakers from military duty. His comment
"Wonderful indeed if so."
11/20. Caroline Whitall dec'd.
11/24. Rectified error of Sam'l Wilkins in measuring
Methodist meeting house lot.
11/25. Jedediah Allen, Jr., and Letitia Hinchman mar-
ried at our meeting.
Rode to Isaiah Ward to see about getting a rag
carpet woven.
12/13. Ashur Brown made known his intentions of re-
moving to ye Western territory of the U. S.
12/14. Andrew Eurian drowned in Phila a few nights
ago.
12/31. He writes "Lord! make me wiser every year
and better every day."
1804
I/ 1 6. David Wards wife Hannah buried at Wood-
bury.
NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 177
1804.
1/2 1. Sarah Ward went in stage to see her sister Han-
nah Reeve at Maurice River.
Mentions many Quaker missionaries from all quar-
ters throughout his diaries.
2/ 4. Describes fire at Jno. Lawrence. Court House
and Academy bells were rung. Fire engines
mentioned.
2/1 1. Made 400 pills of asafoetida, castile soap, oil
juniper and honey.
3/15. Surveyed triangle piece at Jno. Jessups large
three story house in Woodbury.
Wrote deed for Jno Keen and wife to Biddle
Reeves and Jno Tatum, Jr.
3/1 6. Aaron Pancoast & Anne Cooper married.
5/ 7. John Smith father of Daniel Smith Sr., de-
ceased last night Also heard of decease of
Biddle Reeves mother Ann Reeves, also of
ye decease of Michael Fisher's wife Re-
becca.
5/8. Heard of ye decease of ye wife of Archibald
Moffett Sen'r, and Daniel Bassett.
5/18. Ira Allen and Catherine Cooper married.
Arthur Howell, Jno Gill, Deborah Steward
and her sister Hannah Clement here after
meeting.
5/24. This week a young man near Sharptown was
killed by lightning, another seriously hurt,
5/25. Went to buy wool.
6/ 8. Egg Harbor & Cape May meetings mentioned.
6/15. Brought home my new Dutch Fan, price $17.00
and $i to Amos Smith son of Daniel, for
his trouble.
7/ i. Hannah Reeve, widow of Mark, at meeting.
7/1 1. Stung by bumble bees at barn.
178 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1804.
7/1 1. James Whitall says he will be 87, 9th mo. next,
Ann Ladd born in 1715, his late wife 1716
and he in 1717.
7/16. At funeral of 9 mo. old child of Presbyterian
Parson, Tho. Picton.
7/18. Dan'l Cooper at ye Ferry dec'd.
8/1 1. Attended funeral of Elisha Clarks mother, aged
about 65 years. Interred in Presbyterian
ground.
8/24. Hear Evi Smith deceased ye morning.
9/25. Jesse Smiths wife's funeral.
io/ 2. Geo. C. Ward & wife about to remove today to
ye state of Ohio.
10/4. Surveyed an additional piece of ground to en-
large our school yard and extend to ye
Strangers burial ground.
11/13. Eliada Paxson of Bucks Co., and Mary Cooper,
daughter of Amos, married.
11/20. Finished cleaning my present years crop of
wheat.
11/25. Ann Sparks, widow, and daughter of James
Ward, come to reside with us a 4/6 per
week.
I2/ 4. Had our young bull killed, aged 2 yr. 4 mo., n
da., weight abt. 600 Ibs.
I2/ 6. Sarah Whitall wife of Sam'l, daughter of
Joseph Ellis, dec'd ye day.
12/15. Repainting ye old desk and book case made
in 1725 (according to receipt for payment)
late belonging to Uncle John and Aunt
Ladd.
12/17. Fire m m ' s stove chimney. Broke up Court
twice. Fire engine called out. Full descrip-
tion of supposed cause and its effects.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 179
1805
1/6. Read part of Isaac Andrews manuscript jour-
nal.
1/16. Wife drawn over Delaware River in sleigh by
the Ferryman on the ice.
3/ 2. Sam'l Hugg deceased yesterday.
3/15. John Knight, Sarah Jones married.
3/19. Sowed my lot in Spring wheat.
4/20. In Phila Cousin Sam'l Mickle Fox being
President of the Pennsylvania Bank showed
it to me from top to bottom. Was out on
its stone roof and down in ye cellar. Very
curious indeed.
5/ 4. Wrote certificate for Sam'l Packer & wife and
family to the Miami's in ye State of Ohio.
5/ 5. Edward Vaughn died at Mullica Hill yesterday.
Buried in Presbyter, burial ground near
Woodbury today.
5/ 7. Attended funeral of Jno. Haines.
5/13. Ann Down interred today.
Rec'd order from President of Fire Co. to call
a special meeting.
5/1 8. Read Martha Rouths manuscript Journal
(London to America).
6/ 9. Rec'd account of decease of Mary wife of
Sam'l Denny at Haddonfield, late Mary
West, daughter of Thos. & Deborah West.
6/21. Abel Clements son Thos. had his barn burned
by lightning.
7/10. Wheat reaping, 6 sickles.
7/27. Jonathan Gibson deceased, buried in Friends'
graveyard.
8/15. Marmaduke Burr died.
7/22. Attended funeral of Mary Gibson, wife of
Joseph, upward of 80 years of age.
8/23. Yellow fever in Phila.
180 NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1805.
9/10. Dunn & Owen, No. 48 N. Front St., Phila.,
moved their merchandise into my shop.
9/20. Ebenezer Miller deceased also Joseph Thack-
ara.
9/27. Aaron Chew & David Bassetts wife deed, of
yellow fever at Chews Landing, also Samuel
Ellis.
Mentions death of a young woman of yellow
fever at residence of Eph'm Tomlinson in
Woodbury, and that his son Joseph Tom-
linson living between the two Timber creeks,
died of it Oct. i.
10/23. Eliza Vandivere, widow, a female tailor, a
maker of mens and boys clothes, come to
work.
10/27. Louisa, wife of Elisha Clark, on visit.
11/18. At Elisha Clark's Vendue. Party spirit has
wrested ye Clerks office from him and be-
stowed it on Chas. Ogden.
11/21. Elisha Clark removed with his family to Phila.
I2/ 6. Invited to visit Eliz Cowperthwaiths school ye
P. M. at ye Presbyterian's Academy.
I2 1 / 8. Rebecca, wife of cousin Jas. Hopkins of Had-
donfield, dec'd.
I2/ 6. Posted my books.
1806
1/8. John Stephens dec'd.
1/20. Levi Hopper and son Levi, Jos. Whitall, Sam'l
Mickle and wife Sophia, Benj. Lord here by
turns thro' ye day.
2/ 3. John Estaugh Hopkins born 5/5/1738. O. S.
deceased at Haddonfield.
2/ 5. Thos. Redman informed me he was 63 years old
12 mo. last.
2/19. Went on horse back to John Collins at Wood-
land tenement.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 181
1806.
2/20. Blue birds and frogs singing. In ye 2d month
1779 the peach trees were in bloom and my
dear wife made peach blossom syrup some of
which remains yet in our house. Visited
Dan'l Smith and his wife, mother in law Leze
Smith.
2/27. Rebecca Jones returned from her l /2 sisters wed-
ding.
3/14. Wm. Miller and Hester Cooper married.
3/25. Informed J. S. I conclude to occupy my shop or
store myself with lumber, etc.
4/1 8. Got four shad at Jno. Whitall's fishery at Wood-
bury dam.
4/25. Chas. Potts and Susan Wood married at meet-
ing to day. I read certificate.
4/29. Went to Joshua Howell's to bespeak shad. On
our way called to see his mother Frances
Howell.
5/ 9. This evening an appearance of a great fire in ye
direction Phila.
5/10. Reported 21 houses burned on Dock St. last
evening.
6/ 2. Late potatoes planting.
6/1 6. An almost total eclipse of ye Sun between 9 & 1 1
A. M. Saw i star.
6/28. Marked a number of my flour bags with oil and
lamp black.
7/ 4. At 7.45 A. M. arrived at Isaac Kays mill about
5 miles distant with wheat and corn.
7/1 1. Heard of marriage of Humphrey Owen an old
man of 76.
7/12. Got early vegetables, potatoes, squashes, cucum-
bers and radishes at Clement Reeves.
7/14. Went money hunting and returned as empty as
I set out.
1 82 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1806.
7/21. Sam'l Haines, Tanner (son of Jno. Haines dec'd)
died. Also informed Elijah Cozens buried
yesterday.
8/ I. Preparing a permanent apple drying scaffold.
8/26. Rec'd an invitation to funeral of an ancient
neighbor Mary Tatum widow of Joseph Ta-
tum dec'd said to have been 95 years old on
26th of 12 mo. last. Died near Phila. Corpse
brought over and buried from home of Levi
Hopper Sen'r who married her daughter
Rachel the latter a school mate of mine.
8/31. Went to Chestnut Ridge meeting (Friends).
9/12. This day 6ist year of my age commenced.
9/13. Aaron H. Middleton dec'd.
9/20. Had 8 bbls. of cider made.
10/20. Mary Mickle daughter of Jos. Mickle buried.
10/23. Wm. Sloane and Hannah Clement married.
10/24. This day 30 years ago my beloved wife and I
were married.
10/26. Funeral of Sam'l Haines son of Jacob and Eliza-
beth Haines late our boy who left us and ap-
prenticed to Sam'l Haines tanner.
1 1/ I. Israel Morris deceased lately in Phila.
1 1/ 4. Our neighbor Jno. Lawrence (lawyer) deceased
of consumption this P. M. Rec'd an invita-
tion to funeral of Rebecca wife of Chas.
French, Phila to morrow at 1 1 A. M.
1 1/ 5. Jno. Lawrence buried at Burlington.
11/13. Cousin Paul Cooper and Hannah Knight mar-
ried.
11/14. My beloved wife gave up womens quarterly
meeting book of minutes and book of disci-
pline to wife of Cous. Jos. Whitall who was
nominated as clerk to succeed. Till this time
my house hath been entitled to a book of
discipline from 6th or 7th mo. 1789 a space
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 183
1806.
of 17 years. She was appointed Clerk 5 mo.
1798 acted 8 years beside having been assist-
ant clerk.
11/27. Signed an order for schooling 13 poor children.
12/10. Keziah Reeves widow of Thos. and mother of
Benjamin Reeves buried.
12/15. Had our two hogs killed by Mark Brown wt.
428 Ibs.
12/31. Had poor Poncy (horse) shot ye P. M. in 23
year of his age after having him nursed in
vain.
1807
I/ 5. Attended funeral of Rachel wife of Levi Hopper
late Rachel Tatum an old school mate of
mine.
3/15. John Hopper deceased I2th inst. Jeremiah
Wood dec'd yesterday.
4/ 9. Sold D. Somers my 61 acres marsh on great Egg
Harbor river for $100 and leased him my
adjoining marsh.
4/1 1. Joshua Hopper deceased.
4/13. Mother Smith, Dan'l Smiths Sr's wife deceased
aged 75 yrs last month. Funeral at Haddon-
field on 1 5th.
5/29. Pig hunting great part of ye day. In A. M. went
by way of Jno. Jessup's to Joshua Lords to
Prouds, Jno Ridgway and Jos. Hinch-
mans and on my return stopped at Reuben
Jennings and thence home a little before I
P.M.
5/30. Joel Wescott, saddler, dec'd.
Geo. Ward formerly blacksmith son of Josiah
buried.
6/ 7. Doctor Thos. Hendry bled me in my arm.
James Wood Sr. dec'd.
184 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1807.
6/21. Friend Benedict Dorsey deceased about a week
ago.
7/19. Elizabeth Cowperthwaite finished school keep-
ing- in Woodbury yesterday.
7/21. A gloomy harvest time from repeated rains.
Grain cut by farmers but can't haul it in.
7/28. Attended funeral of Mary Sillard the mother
of Chas. Ogdens first wife said to be aged
either 3 years more or less than 100 years.
8/1 8. Jno. Lownes deceased in Phila aged 80 odd
years.
8/21. All our family unwell of something like influ-
enza which is a very general complaint.
9/ 4. Beulah Reeve, widow of Jno. Reeve Junior
& daughter of John & Sarah Brown de-
ceased.
9/ 5. John Glover Sen'r dec'd.
9/ 7- Jesse Dorman dec'd.
9/10. Wife of Thos. Clement of Salem dec'd.
Robert Sparks Sr buried today.
9/24. Grace Rogers wife of William dec'd.
io/ 6. Funeral of Wm. Whitall who was drowned off
Red Bank in a hard gale of wind. Sail boat
lost.
10/13. Isaac Ballingers 7 year old son Richard buried.
Died of lock jaw.
10/24. Anniversary of our marriage 31 years ago, be-
ing io mo. 24-1776.
i i/i i. Bought a sorrel horse of Wallace Lippincott,
$105.00.
11/22. David Ward dec'd.
12/11. Mentions Rachel Brown, widow of Robert
Brown, of Swedesboro.
12/13. Ebenezer Lummis dec'd at Duncan Camp-
bells over ye way.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 185
1808
2/21. Heard of decease of neighbor Ann Treadway
widow of Henry, supposed 90 yrs old or up-
ward, also Mary Hendrickson, Thos Low
and John Rambo's wife.
2/24. Abraham Inskeeps wheelwright shop, stuff and
tools all burned down. Eph'm Millers tailor
shop near it damaged.
2/25. Visited our school, 60 scholars of whom 49 are
writers.
2/28. This P. M. my precious wife and I went to
Phila to consult Doctor Caspar Wistar re-
specting ye disorder in her right eye.
3/17. Michael C. Fisher and Ann Clement married
today.
4/ 5. Uncle Timothy Matlack my mothers half
brother aged about 75 and his widowed
daughter Cath. Murray, accompanied by
Cousin Paul Cooper, came to see us.
4/10. Jesse alias Josiah Reeves buried this P. M.
4/17. Daniel Smith Jr. informed me his father de-
ceased today about noon being i year 4
days after his wife.
He was born 4 mo. 5-1748 being 66 years old
on 5th inst. Interred at Haddonfield igth
inst.
4/21. Wrote to ye City Commissioners of Philada on
behalf of Wallace Lippincott.
4/22. In Phila Doctor Wister proposed another visit,
accompanied by Doctor Physic.
4/30. Describes operation on his wife by Doctors
Wistar & Physic in Phila.
5/ i. Cousin Sam'l Mickle Fox late President of
Penna Bank deceased yesterday aged 44
years in 10 mo. last.
5/ 2. Had corn, cucumbers, squashes and citron musk-
melons planted. A great and very foolish
12
1 86 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1808.
parade with Phila Militia in Woodbury act-
ing a mock fight, etc.
5/15. Mary Wood widow of Jno. deceased.
5/17. Another operation on his wife in Phila.
6/20. Obtained F. Davenports liberty to open a win-
dow from my stable into his orchard.
6/24. Sold my undivided moiety of salt marsh to Jno
Baker for $400.00 surveyed to my grand-
father Jno Mickle & Jno Alford in ye whole
754 acres between Great Egg Harbor &
Middle Rivers.
6/30. Visited our school late ye P. M., 26 boys & 23
girls, total 49.
8/ 3. Describes sting of a bumble bee that put him
out of business. Called in Doctor Lummis.
9/ 8. Had a kind of special meeting of Abolition So-
ciety ye P. M. at Court House to appoint
representatives to State meeting at Tren-
ton. Till now we have had no meeting of
said society since 4 mo 1806.
9/15. Mentions Red Bank school house.
9/16. Mary Snowden, daughter of Richard, died last
night. Hester White, daughter of Jno.
Moore deceased 2nd day I2th inst.
9/17. Describes the 3rd operation on his wife's face.
9/20. Started from Cambden about 4.45 P. M. in ye
beginning of a thunder gust.
Note: This is first mention of "Cambden." Two
days later he mentions ferry at Cambden.
9/26. Had 40 bushels of apples made into cider at
Randall Sparks mill.
9/29. James Whitall Sen'r deceased in his 92d year.
10/24. Anniversary of my wedding day 32 years since,
and I am tottering about here yet.
1 1/ 3. Sarah Hopkins Jun'r deceased aged 32 years,
also Thos. M. Potter.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 187
1808.
11/9. We walked around the walls of ye Penna Hos-
pital which is near her boarding place. (His
wife's. )
I2/ 7. Attended funeral of Joseph Ridgway a pris-
oner for debt who died in Jail at Wood-
bury. The creditors not allowing his body
to be removed beyond the restricted limits
of the jail, the corpse was taken to Mark
Browns house, a tavern, and thence interred
in his yard, M. B.'s for a time.
12/11. Elizabeth Whitall, widow of Benj. deceased
and mother of Joseph and Samuel, deceased
today. Buried I3th.
12/27. Sarah Davenport wife of Franklin mentioned.
12/30. Roger Dicks deceased.
1809
1/29. Lawyer I. W. Crane of Bridgetown and his
new wife Maria, late Alberti, came in and
stayed a minute or two.
2/1 6. John Jessup Jr. & Sarah daughter of John
Wood married at our meeting today.
2/19. Deborah Steward, Eliz. Daniels and Beulah
Steward lodge.
4/ 3. Annual meeting of School Society and meeting
of Fire Co.
4/ 4. Mary Newbold dec'd.
4/19. This day 30 years ago my dear wife and I came
to dwell in Woodbury.
4/20. Hannah Trump went home and took her sis-
ter Matilda to live with her.
4/25. Wrote deed from Duncan Campbell to Richard
Snowden conveying his house and lot for
$2800.00 consideration.
At this period he describes the daily condition of
his wife who is rapidly failing.
i88 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1809.
6/28. Doctor Casper Wister & wife on their way
home from Salem to Phila called and staid
Y^ hour or more.
7/ 6. Hester French late widow of Joshua Lippin-
cott and daughter of Jacob Davis dec'd.
7/ 8. Sarah Kirl widow, Aunt to Franklin Daven-
port, deceased.
7/25. Heard Henry Drinker deceased about three
weeks ago.
9/17. Thos Harrison dec'd in Phila.
Thos Thorn dec'd.
Son of John Stokes dec'd.
Wm son of Benj. Clark dec'd.
9/22. Hannah Hopper (maiden) dec'd.
After reading Sam'l Mickle's diary, covering a peri-
od of about 17 years, I felt like one of the many persons
who dwelt in his home, rather than one of the scores of
relatives or hundreds of Quaker friends who lodged
with him while attending the Woodbury meetings, or
while on their journeys through the town. When on
the 1 2th of the loth mo., 1809, and fifth of the week, he
recorded that his precious wife had said farewell to all
the family and friends at her bed side, including Dr.
Hendry, and had deceased at 5 minutes past one o'clock
on the following morning and was interred in the
Friends' burial ground at Woodbury on the I4th, I
could neither see the diary of Samuel Mickle or the
paper on which I was transcribing it for genuine tears.
The sorrow of that old merchant and diarist of Wood-
bury of a century and a quarter ago was my own and T
had to cease writing, as doubtlessly he did. I went out
on my porch and the caressing winds of the Atlantic
Ocean dried my misty eyes and I soon again returned
to the task before me.
11/25. Heard of decease of Peter Reeve son of John.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 189
1809.
12/12. Thos Saunders and Cousin Martha Mickle pre-
sented for marriage at monthly meeting.
Married 1-18-1810.
1810
2/ 3. A steady snow storm. Went in P. M. to An-
nual meeting of Lib'y Co. Made them a
present of a Carved Tinder horn in silver
staples and silver ferrules around each end
it being said to have belonged to one of ye
kings of Scotland. It was presented to Na-
thaniel Evans in England, when he went
there to be ordained a minister of ye Epis-
copal Church. N. E. after his return to
Glos'ter County presented it to my wifes
father Robert Friend Price. It then having
a silver chain to it connecting the stopper
to the little end of the horn but taken off by
R. F. P's girls to put to teapot lids.
2/15. Rebecca widow of Joseph Hews dec'd.
2/25. Ab'm Inskeep's wife interred ye P. M.
3/ 2. Ephraim Tomlinson dec'd last night.
3/15. Benj Howell & Joshua L,. Howells daughter
Frances married.
3/26. Wm Simmons Jr & Rachel R. Richards mar-
ried.
3/31. Isaac Ballingers mother dec'd last night.
5/15. Hope Allen dec'd.
5/20. Sailor & Hillmans store broken open last night
and $500 worth of goods taken.
6/26. Sold 1035 acres on Absecon Beach to Jas
Leeds for $250. (Now Atlantic City).
8/17. Elizabeth Bains late Higbee wife of John Bains
here from New York, lodges.
8/22. James Clement of Phila deceased while visiting
his father Joseph.
8/30. Andrew Barns buried in Presbyterian ground.
190 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1810.
9/ 6. Thos. Ashbrook deceased.
9/13. Ruth Ann wife of Jacob Lindley dec'd.
10/27. Hannah Clement, widow dec'd Haddonfield.
Sarah Webster, widow of Sam'l dec'd, New-
ton.
11/21. Mark Brown & Deborah Middleton married.
1811
1/13. Funeral of Isaac Stephens.
5/ i. Ploughing up stone pavement along street in
Philada.
5/ 2. Little Sam'l M. Saunders tied in chair fell and
was burned so that he died.
6/ 3. Wm. Griscomb brought account of decease of
Jedediah Allen Sr.
6/30. A duel said to have been fought near Glouces-
ter between two Frenchmen from Philada.
One of them killed and left on the ground
this day.
8/ i. Elizabeth Watson dec'd.
8/22. Joshua Howells daughter Rebecca interred.
9/ i. Paschall Howell son of Joshua dec'd.
9/ 3- J os - Hinchmans son Thomas dec'd.
9/ 4. Elizabeth Paul wife of Sam'l buried.
io/ 5. Runaway Slave case in Court.
10/15. A petition in circulation here for the establish-
ment of a bank at Cambden.
10/16. Sam'l Packer returned to us again with his
family from the Miami country.
11/17. Isaac Wilkins deceased.
11/18. Chas Stratton & wife late Hannah Mickle left
for New Salem Ohio.
Edmund Gibbs dec'd.
11/28. Mark Clement married Rebecca daughter of
J. Davis.
I2/ i. Mary Hammitt dec'd.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 191
1811.
I2/ 7. Sarah wife of cous Joseph Hinchman Jr dec'd.
Interred in Old Newton burying ground.
1812
i/ 2. Quotes Penna Gazette.
1/6. Employed John Zane to repair Fire Engine
House.
1/22. James Crump buried.
Trial Wescott dec'd last night at dance at
Clements Glass Works.
Thomas Batten dec'd a few days ago.
1/26. Jesse Chew deceased aged (his gr son Jesse
son of Nath'l Chew says) upward of 80
years. Jesse Chew was a Methodist preacher.
2/13. Funeral of Reuben Milliard.
2/22. Mentions military parade which frightened
horses.
3/12. Ab'm VanScyver tavern keeper at lower tavern
buried today.
3/29. Dr. James Stratton near Swedesboro dec'd this
morning.
4/ 3. Wm. Burnett's wood wagon mentioned.
4/ 6. Amos Collins dec'd.
4/15. Zephania Brown deceased.
Mary Glover aged about 84 and her son John
here.
4/24. John Redman deceased at Salem.
Anna Giles dec'd 7-18 last, also wives of Joshua
Harlan and Geo Austin buried 23 inst.
5/ 2. Francis Howell widow of John Ladd Howell
and mother of Joshua deceased.
6/ 4. A consultation between some members of ye
Abolition Society on measures necessary to
be taken with some slave hunters in our
county, one of their assistants Henry Wright
being killed on ye night of 2nd inst at
Guinea Town.
This is the end of the second volume, 188 pages.
1 92 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1812.
6/ 6. Advertisement for a meeting of this county
to determine whether Peace or war with
Great Britain, etc.
6/ 7. Jno. Clement son of Joseph dec'd 5th day last
ye 4th inst.
Invitation to funeral of Rebecca Wells a widow
lately removed from Woodbury to Phila.
6/ 9. Isaac Trump & wife & child Maria on visit.
Hannah Trump informed me her mother in
law, Alberti deceased 3-28 last.
6/1 8. War declared by U. S. against Great Britain
and her dependencies.
6/23. Abt i P. M. sister Sarah Hinchman, son
Joseph and her grandchild S. M. Hinchman
& Mary Eastlack sister of Josephs deceased
wife arrived.
8/22. John Allinson dec'd this morning.
9/ i. Eli Yarnall & Son died last week of typhus
fever. Chas Potts deceased this P. M.
9/ 4. Cousin Sarah Hopkins dec'd.
9/ 6. Invitation to Funeral of Wm. Hugg Sr.
9/1 1. Heard of decease of Phoebe Pemberton, widow
of our ancient friend James Pemberton.
9/15. Jno Tatem Sr. informs me he was born 6 mo
n, 1739, New Style.
9/19. Elizabeth Bains late Higbee from New York
on visit.
9/22. Sam'l Cooper formerly of Coopers ferry inter-
red ye P. M.
9/23. Funeral of James, son of Peter Reeve aged
about 4 years & 9 mo.
Robert Sparks (up Mantua Creek) interred
this P. M.
9/29. Cousin Joshua Lords daughter Mary came to
board & school.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 193
1812.
io/ 4. An application for leave to inter Josiah Clark
in Friends ground. Deceased about 6
o'clock last night.
io/ 9. Went to Phila ye morning and called on my
way at Kaighns point to see Joseph Kaighn
about his method of preventing smoky
chimneys.
10/10. Called to see Mary England in her 8/th year,
and Sarah Shoemaker in her 82d year and
Hannah Trump. Crossed ye Delaware abt
noon.
10/11. Patterson Hartshorn was at our meeting and
told me his old partner Large dec'd last
autumn.
10/12. Worried with Electioneers, this time of elec-
tion. I may say ever since ye Autumn of ye
year 1769 I have witnessed but little free-
dom from bodily pain or at least uneasiness
^ 43 y ears -
10/14. Election day. Elijah Garrison who lodges is
about 55 and never voted at an election in
his life.
10/15. Cousin Geo Mickle & Mary daughter of Jona-
than Brown married at Meeting today.
10/22. Sarah Test bid us a long farewell and set oft"
to go to her Father Zacheus Tests in ye
state of Ohio about 5 miles of Chas Strat-
tons.
10/26. Sarah wife of Isaac Collins at Chestnut Ridge
deceased I3th inst.
10/31. Aaron Hew's boy Sam'l Sharp (late mine) has
absented himself from masters about one
week. Justice gave boy choice of returning
to master or to go to jail.
11/7. Stephen Munson Day, schoolmaster at Haddon-
field deceased yesterday.
194 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1812.
1 1/ 9. Susanna wife of Levi Hopper Jr dec'd.
11/17. Wm Hoppers child Deborah dec'd aged about
5 o r6 -
11/24. Judge John Wilkins dec'd.
11/28. Sarah Harrison wife of Thos Harrison Phila
dec'd.
I2/ 5. Wm. Rogers of Evesham dec'd to be interred
to morrow A. M.
12/17. Wrote ye P. M. copy of extract of Mathiew
Franklins letter respecting Comfort Collins
aged 101 and Mary Griffin aged upward of
103 years.
12/25. Elijah Garrison arrives with his new wife
Keziah followed by two covered wagon
loads of household goods 3 of her sons mar-
ried men and I of their wives also her young-
est and unmarried daughter 6 horses, 3 cows
and i chair. They started homeward to
Cape May little after sun rise, on 26th. Keziah
was the widow Wilson, maiden name Daker
of Hardwick meeting Sussex Co.
1813
i/ 8. John G. Whitall & Tacy Wood daughter of
Marmaduke Wood married last night.
i/ 9. Rec'd a bundle of y 2 bound books and pam-
phlets from my esteemed Friend Joseph
Clark of Phila by hand of Sam'l Tonkin.
2/ 8. Thos. Richards & wife Mary late Mary Tom-
lin & formerly Mary Cooper to lodge.
Friend Wm Griscomb deceased on 3Oth ult.
2/16. Committee for Female School met ye P. M.
and agreed to employ Sarah West in ye
upper and Phoebe Williams in the lower
school.
2/25. Visited Deptford Free school 52 scholars of
whom 45 are writers vis. 40 boys & 5 girls.
NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 195
1813.
2/27. Duncan Campbell deceased loth ult.
2/28. Richard Matlock deceased ye morning of
Typus which has spread far & near. Many
deceased about Chews Landing, Mount
Ephraim, Camden, etc.
3/ 6. Wm Matlocks wife near Gloucester deceased.
3/ 9. At a meeting 7 P. M. at Jno S. Whitalls of a
few of the inhabitants of Woodbury vis
Jno Reeve, Nathaniel Todd, Jno S. Whitall,
Jas B. Caldwell, Chas Ogden, Moreton
Stille, Thos Saunders and S. M. agreed to
recommend by an address to Town Meet-
ing tomorrow An Association for Suppres-
sion of vice and immorality.
3/10. Town meeting appointed a committee of about
50 residents in ye several parts of township
on ye above mentioned service.
3/13. Edward Carpenter deceased of Typus fever.
3/15. Robt. Correys wife interred in Presby'ns
ground.
Paul Troths wife interred at Haddonfield.
3/1 6. Jos. Huggs wife Deborah late deceased from an
overdose of Laudanum as did the Widow
Hillman who lived at Little Timber Creek
bridge Tavern.
3/17. Our Chief Justice Kirkpatrick from New
Brunswick attending our court this week.
Lawyers etc are therefore on good behavior.
3/27. Sam'l Ashcraft, Mullica Hill interred today died
of Typus fever. Thos Wilson dec'd ye
P. M.
3/31. Joseph Eastlacks wife late Hannah Kaighn
formerly a housemate in our young days
deceased of typus fever. Joseph Eastlack
born 7 mo 28 1738 O. S. and his wife 2
mo or April 21 1741 O. S.
196 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1813.
4/1 1. Abijah Collins interred in Frds Burial Ground
Woodbury to day.
4/20. Hear Doctor Benj Rush of Philada deceased
yesterday night of Typus fever. An an-
cient and useful man in his time.
4/28. Heard Phineas Lord deceased this morning.
5/ 3. Heard of Jeremiah Elfreths wifes decease.
5/ 6. James M. Whitall son of James & Rebecca
dec'd.
5/ 8. Samuel Webster Sen'r dec'd.
5/19. Bought a Wilkins patent fire place in Phila.
5/27. Haddon Hopkins deceased of Typus fever.
6/ 8. Cousin Amos Cooper deceased of typus fever.
8/ 6. Went with Jas. Saunders and son Isaac fishing
at Woodbury Dam, very poor success. I
caught but 3 small oldwives. Have not
been fishing since I fished at Egg Harbour
when I caught 2 sheepshead a year or 2 be-
fore I married.
8/15 Cooper Paul deceased today.
8/30. Sarah Lord widow of Constantine Lord de-
ceased in 76th year of age.
9/14. Jas. Springer deceased last night.
9/23. John Sharp Sr deceased.
io/ 4. Doctor Weaver deceased last week.
Nicholas Wain Phila deceased 29th ult in his
72 year.
10/12. Cousin Joseph Glover deceased last night.
10/25. Edward Brad way dec'd.
11/4. Doctor Sam'l Hopkins drew a double tooth.
11/17. J os - Eastlack in his 76th year and member of
Friends society married today Mary of
about 30. "Let him that thinks he stands
take heed lest he fall."
I2/ 6. Peter Crim deceased this morning.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 197
1813.
12/22. Spent most of ye evening at Court house to
hear ye winding up of a Trial respecting a
dead Whale which floated on shore at Ab-
secon Beach, the trial commenced & Jury
sitting from ye I5th inst.
1814
1/9. Cousin Sarah Glovers son James bro't word
of ye decease of his grandmother Mary
Glover widow of elder John Glover deceased.
1/19. James B. Coopers wife Rebecca and his daugh-
ter Elizabeth buried in one grave at Had-
donfield on I7th inst.
Sarah Ladd, widow of Sam'l deceased this A.
M.
1/2 1. Ephr'm Millers youngest daughter Eliza buried,
of typus fever this P. M.
2 / 3- James Farrows wife Rebecca deceased.
2/ 6. John Thackara's wife burned to death and
house destroyed.
2/1 6. Joseph Clements wife Ann deceased.
3/ 3. Newspaper Information. Died in England Wm.
Franklin age 82, son of Dr. Benj. Frank-
lin, formerly ye British Governor of New
Jersey etc etc.
3/26. Cousin Ann Blackwood moved into Woodbury
today.
4/19. Jas. Matlacks wife Elizabeth deceased.
4/22. Jno. S. Whitalls daughter Caroline dec'd of
typus fever.
4/26. Thos. Scattergood of Phila dec'd of typus inter-
red yesterday. He was son of Joseph and
Rebecca Scattergood of Burlington.
4/28. Preparative meeting Subscription to raise
$700 for a wall front of burial ground. Re-
moval of boards and stones from ye graves
under consideration.
198 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1814.
5/21. Attended meeting of Lib'ry Co to choose Trus-
tees and incorporate ye Co. Franklin Daven-
port, Paul Cooper, Josiah Tatum, S. M.,
Thos Saunders, Sam'l Webster, Samuel C.
Hopkins nominated for trustees.
5/23. Mentions law passed in 1779 respecting altera-
tion of road leading thro Gloucester County
from Salem to Burlington.
5/31. Went to Phila on business to Doctor Francis
Hoover lately removed from Camden to
Southwark near ye Navy Yard. Saw a 74
gun ship in course of construction. Gate-
way was guarded by a soldier with gun and
bayonet.
6/ 3. Charles Reeve grandson of John deceased.
The building of a straight stone wall at front
of Friends Burial ground interfered with a
dozen graves. Bones were taken up and
buried in another part.
6/ 4. Five of Trustees of Lib. Co. signed a deed of
Incorporation.
6/13. Wrote a deed, Elizabeth Gibson to Elijah
Porch.
7/21. Isaac Bonsall's wife Mary late Hopkins daugh-
ter of John deceased.
8/ 5. Samuel Blackwood interred in Presbyterian
Ground.
8/ 6. Wm Simmons youngest daughter Hannah
dec'd.
8/17. John Cresson (son of Joshua dec'd and brother
of Sarah Cresson) deceased this morning.
8/27. Report says British Army have entered ye
City of Washington burned ye Capitol and
other public Buildings and the Navy Yard.
8/28. Jno Pedricks wife deceased.
8/31. Banks have stopped payment.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 199
1814.
9/1 6. Thos Manns son James in his i6th year de-
ceased.
9/23. Between 3 & 400 Burlington Militia in Wood-
bury on their way to Billingsport Fort.
Very noisy up and down street and have
encamped for the night in ye field back of
my garden in their tents. They left two
days later.
9/26. Volunteers in and about Woodbury with their
Capt. Armstrong left Woodbury ye P. M.
for Billingsport.
io/ 6. Job Eldridges wife Tacy interred at Mullica
Hill.
10/20. Jos. Miller & Mary Allen Jr. married.
1 1/ 8. Michael C. Fishers wife Ann late Clement
dec'd.
i i/i i. Elizabeth Tatum wife of Jno Tatum Sen'r de-
ceased, aged nearly 64.
11/12. Nurse Mary White, at Gloucester interred to-
day.
1 1/24. Caldwell & Fishers store broken open and rob-
bed last night.
1815
1/2. Daniel Bates died of Typus fever.
1/20. Jas Stetsers wife deceased.
Caleb Slichter deceased.
1/31. Nathan Treadway, Peter Wheaten Sr. Dec'd a
few days ago.
2/12. Report of Peace between U. S. & Great Britain.
2/15. Nathan Weatherby deceased.
2/18. Woodbury generally illuminated tonight in
consequence of peace between U. S. &
Great Britain.
2/24. Sam'l Reeve deceased buried at Greenwich his
place of abode.
2oo NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1815.
2/28. A boy 13 years old 'accidentally killed at
Dilks Mill.
3/1 1. Attended Funeral of Isaiah Ward Jr in iQth
year.
3/14. Doctor EH Ayres wife Elizabeth deceased. Late
widow of Geo Whitall and daughter of
Charles West of Timber Creek.
Jno. Pedrick deceased.
3/1 6. Thos P. Clark & Deborah E. Kay married.
John Wistar, Salem, deceased.
3/22. Mary Williams informed me she was born in
1740 last month in ye year.
Ruth Sparks widow of John Sparks deceased
aged about 77 years.
3/23. Heard Cous Jos. Mickles 2nd wife Rebecca de-
ceased.
3/28. Jonathan Harker dec'd.
3/30. Lorenzo Dow at Court House meeting.
4/ 2. Benj Heritage Sen'r deceased about a week
ago.
4/22. Zephania Hopper dec'd.
5/16. Sam'l Sterlings son Joseph interred in Friends
Burial ground today.
5/25. Paul Scull & Hope Kay married.
7/21. Cousin Henry Rulon deceased.
7/26. Sam'l Porch Jr killed by lightning near Bethel.
8/17. Hester Cox daughter of Edward Andrews de-
ceased widow of Joseph Reeves of Little
Timber Bridge and lately married to David
Cox, deceased to day.
8/21. Elizabeth Hendry wife of Doctor Thos Hen-
dry deceased. They were married 12 mo
1774.
8/22. Amos Collins Jr interred today.
8/25. Joseph Gibson Sen'r deceased in 92 year of his
age.
NOTES ON Ow> GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 201
1815.
9/15. Jas. Hopkins child Mary aged abt. 7 or 8 yrs.
deceased.
9/19. Brick wall began laying on top of stone one in
front of grave yard.
9/30. Vendue of some personal estate of Richard
Snowden who removed yesterday to Phila
by his daughters Rebecca & Sarah Snow-
den.
io/ i. A Methodist Stranger named Thompson from
N. Branch of Susquehanna undertook a ser-
mon for us.
10/11. Election in Woodbury.
10/26. Cousin James Mickle dec'd in 68th year of his
age. He was born 10-26-1747 old style.
Buried at Upper Greenwich 27th.
1 1/ 2. Rebecca Blackwood widow in Woodbury dec'd.
1 1/ 8. Hannah Wells, sister of Benj Clouds wife, dec'd.
12/29. Benj. Turner deceased yesterday.
1816
1/4. John Reeve deceased in 87th year of age, born
3 mo 5-1729. He & wife Jane married 5
mo 24, 1793.
1/6. Heard Wm Eldridge deceased ist inst.
1/8. Cousin Isaac Cooper brought and lent me un-
asked his great grandfathers John Coopers
handsome cane with his name and date there
on viz "J onn Cooper 1724" insisted on my
taking it. Hath been in possession of his
son David (who was my esteemed uncle
and guardian) grandson Amos and great
grandson ye said Isaac, son of said Amos.
i/ ii. Rebecca Hubbs at meeting.
2/ 4. Judah Heritage deceased.
2/ 9. Delaware River froze over last night in both
channels.
2O2 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1816.
2/15. Heard Henry Sparks formerly of Woodbury
late of Salem deceased sometime this winter.
3/ 5. David Chew interred yesterday.
3/15. A First day school established.
3/22. 2 Duelists and 21 seconds from Phila fined $25
each by Court.
Mentions duel of Livingston and a son of
Doctor Rush, now insane in the Penna Hos-
pital.
4/20. Cousin Sarah Mickle deceased.
5/ 3. Paper taken off ceiling in my writing room and
ceiling white washed instead of paper.
Weather, crops and visits to Phila neighbors &
relatives and School visits to Deptford omitted, also
sick spells.
5/12. David Brown dec'd.
5/23. Thos. Knight & Mary daughter of Josiah
Stokes.
5/26. Thos. Ballinger father of Isaac dec'd
5/31. Attended a meeting at ye Academy for the pur-
pose of forming a Bible Society for Glouces-
ter County and became a member thereof
on subscribing 50 cents.
6/ 4. Aaron Wood son of John & Ann Wood dec'd.
6/ 7. Beulah daughter of Thos Clark dec'd.
6/10. Theophilus Gates Itinerant preacher talked at
Deptford Free School also at Court House
in evening.
6/15. Richard Thorn deceased at Camden 4 mo. 27th
last.
7/ i. Mary Wilson, widow of Thos Wilson, deceased
aged about 70 years daughter of Moses
Ward Sr or eldest of ye Moses Wards.
Adilicia Whitecar deceased 3 mo last, widow
of Benj Whitecar and I think daughter of
Thos Wilkins.
NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 203
1816.
8/ 2. Copied a letter of Jos. Reeve of Mannington
Salem Co. N. J. on subject of First day
Schools at request of Jos. Clement.
8/21. At meeting of Managers for Bible Society for
this County.
8/25. Went to Females School, 51 girls of whom
about i doz writers.
At ist day Boys School 40 attended, 47 absent.
9/ 7. Became Life member of Bible Society by pay-
ing to Jos. V. Clark Treas $9.50 in addition
to 50 cts paid him 5-31 last.
9/1 1. Wm. Wilson bookbinder & stationer of Philada
deceased 5 mo last.
io/ i. Sold Pied cow last living creature owned by
me.
Archibald Moffett says he will be 86 years old
2Oth next mo.
io/ 7. At meeting Bible Society & Fire Co.
Pious old black Flora wife of Primus Still de-
ceased to day.
io/ 9. Went to Rappapa to see David Hendrickson
Sr.
10/15. Lydia Reeve left Woodbury in Stage ye morn-
ing to reside in Phila together with her sis-
ter Elizabeth.
1 1/2 1. Cousins Joseph Mickle and Ann Blackwood
married today. She removed from Wood-
bury to Newton on 27th to live in her new
husbands residence.
I2/ i. Uncle Timothy Matlack from Philada on foot
to visit cousin Paul Cooper. Says he don't
remember when he was born but I suppose
upward of 80 years ago.
I2/ 3. At Deborah Davenports to see my old friend
Keziah Howell widow of Richard Howell
late Gov. of New Jersey.
2O4 NOTES ON OLD GW>UCESTER COUNTY.
1816.
12/12. Miles Snowden & Cousin Beulah Cooper mar-
ried.
12/21. Thos Mann & Rhoda Johnson colored folks
married.
12/27. Sarah Gill widow of John Gill Sen'r deceased
in ye 86th year of her age.
12/29. Elizabeth Paul wife of Jas. Paul and daughter
of Dan'l Smith dec'd last night.
This Dan'l Smith built and owned ye windmill
near mouth of Great Timber creek.
1817
I/ I. Quotes poetry.
1/6. Maria Imlay late Milnor of Trenton writes pro-
posing holding a meeting at Woodbury to-
morrow.
Planted many trees.
1/14. Called on Thos Rogers to sympathize on loss
of his second wife on 5th ult. Just heard
of it.
1/19. Funerals of Wm Allen and mother of Thos
Clark.
1/27. Walked to see Casper Budd beyond Metho-
dist meeting house.
1/28. Jas. Matlack married his late wife's sister
Keturah Kennedy today.
1/31. Thos Scott dec'd.
2/15. Thermometer 4 below this morning.
2/17. Capt. Jno. Hider deceased in his 77th year.
2/19. Went ye morning on ice in sleigh with Thos.
Saunders from Joshua Howells at Ladds
Cove to Phila and returned on ice to Jno. G.
Whitalls at Red Bank thence over Wood-
bury creek down home before night. Ice
said to be 2 feet thick.
2/25. John Collins of Evesham interred today.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 205
1817.
3/ 2. Funeral of wife of late tavernkeeper John
Reeves, son of Thos. Her maiden name
West.
3/ 7. Cousin Sarah Glover widow of Jos. interred her
daughter Sarah aged 8.
3/ 8. Sarah Reeves, daughter of Joseph, deceased
this morning in ye 4Oth year of her age.
3/1 6. Archibald Moffett Sen'r deceased ye morning
in the 87th year of his age.
Frequent mention of Friends from various sec-
tions and abroad at Woodbury meeting.
3/29. Sarah Inskeep deceased today in 97th year of
her age.
4/ 3. Our Woodbury Newspaper Glos'ter Farmer
No 12 says Isaac Collins printer deceased 2ist
ult. aged 71 years.
4/20. At Boys ist day school, 53 scholars of whom
12 were blacks.
4/25. Ann Wood wife of John deceased.
4/27. Amos Peasley from Seabrook in New Hamp-
shire at meeting.
4/28. Heard of decease of Robt Haydock of Phila
and John Guest.
5/ i. Visited Michael Loudenslagers at Crown Point
or Paulsborough.
5/1 8. Mathias Aspden at meeting says he was taken
away from ye country to England at ye time
of Revolutionary war and kept as a prisoner
at large and returned to America about 18
mos. ago after an absence of 40 years. En-
quired of me after many persons many years
in their graves.
5/27. Elijah Davis' wife deceased today.
6/ 5. Sam'l Paul says he is in his 8sth year, born
1733-
2o6 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1817.
6/15. John Dyer's (Bulls Eye) Tavern took fire on
roof which was entirely destroyed. All
pumps near it exhausted. Ye Grand jury
had just sat down in their room at said
tavern.
6/23. In A. M. with Committee of Board of Free-
holders running out old Balcony house lot
belonging to John Keen and wife who are
now in Woodbury. Said committee have
agreed to give him $20 per foot for each foot
fronting on ye Street which is 116 ft 3 in
and to extend as far back as the Public
Court House and jail lot extends, $2325
total value.
6/26. Aaron Woodruff late our States Atty interred
yesterday.
6/30. Purchased books for our Library being one of
the directors.
7/ 9. Jas Matlacks 2nd wifes mother Kennedy de-
ceased at his house. Wm Rafferty Presby-
terian minister preached at funeral loth inst.
8/15. Bible Society meeting at Court House.
9/ i. Brought out of my vault ye last of my last years
apples (Bellflower).
9/ 3. Letters from Ezekiel Harker, Pittsburg, Jno
Denny Swedesboro, Sam'l Elwell Manning-
ton Hill, Salem Co.
9/12. My birthday my 72d year begun.
9/27. In Philada visited cousin E & A Guests, Leon-
ard Snowden, Myles Snowden, Sarah Shoe-
maker, in her 87th year, and Jeremiah Paul
in his 72nd year.
10/12. Deborah Steward of Haddonfield interred to
day, also Elias Ward at Poorhouse.
10/21. James Wood son of Richard Wood deceased
at Benj Reeves in Camden.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 207
1817.
11/20. Jos Saunders & Maria Ballinger married.
11/30. Elias Hicks from New York state at meeting.
12/14. Mickle Whitall son of Jno. S. Whitall having
lately arrived from Calcutta gave me an
evening visit. In his I7th year.
12/25. Reading a book I bought at Auction while an
Apprentice in Philada.
1818
i/ 6. Benj Whitecar, joiner, near neighbor in Wood-
bury deceased last night.
1/8. Monthly meeting. The religious meetings at
Chestnut Ridge are concluded to be dropped
they having been continued several years past
on trial.
i/io. Joshua Lf. Howell deceased, 55 yrs. old.
1/20. Mary Ann wife of Sam'l Ogden dec'd.
1/22. Doctor Casper Wistar deceased
1/24. Isaac Trump on way from Phila to Bridgeton
called, says his mother is in 86th year.
2/18. Ann wife of John Shivers dec'd last night.
2/19. Michael C. Fisher and Mary Reeves daughter
of Joseph at Redbank married at our meet-
ing to day, his second wife.
2/28. Franklin Davenport informed me to day that
he was born in gth mo (Sept.) 1755.
3/ 4. Copied from Jas Saunders piece book a letter
from my beloved Uncle and guardian David
Cooper dec'd, to his grand children Sibbee,
Polly & Sally.
Solomon Lippincott Saunders dec'd 2nd inst.
3/ 9. Agreed to lease to Thos Ivins lot No. 15 at
Laddstown for 15 years at $5 annually and
he to build a substantial wharf and deliver it
at end of 15 years for Public landing.
3/25. Chas Ogdens wife Margaretta deceased.
2o8 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1818.
3/27. Elizabeth Hopper daughter of Wm & Mary
Hopper deceased, aged 14 years.
3/29. Invitation to funeral of Prudence Kaighn
widow of Joseph said to be in her 89th year.
4/ 8. Annual Meeting Bible Society at Academy.
Rebecca Jones a maiden of Phila interred yes-
terday in Phila about 89 years old.
4/29. Rec'd invitation to funeral of Dr Sam'l Hop-
kins of Phila late of Woodbury son of Jas
Hopkins.
5/ 6. John Paul deceased ye morning.
5/12. Went to Phila bought spectacles at McAllis-
ters down near ye drawbridge.
6/ 6. Gave Matilda Alberti large family bible late
belonging to her Aunt Blanch Price de-
ceased.
6/17. Geo Alberti Jr. after a runaway black slave. I
did not see either of them.
7/12. 103 in shade. Warmest day since battle of
Monmouth in the Revolutionary War and
wa warmer than any for 30 years before.
7/15. Cousin Ann Mickle (3rd wife of Joseph at
Newton) late Blackwood deceased this A.
M. Also Amy Ward widow of Nathan de-
ceased yesterday.
7/20. Began making index of in ye latter part of
Book of records of Births and Deaths of
Members of Woodbury Monthly meeting.
8/ 4. Levi Lippincott, Evesham funeral.
8/13. Samuel W. Harrison dec'd at Gloucester yes-
terday in $6th year.
8/30. Levi Hopper says he was aged 74 2 mo I7th
last.
9/ 3. Funeral of Joseph Eastlack.
9/12. My birthday begins my 73d year.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 209
1818.
9/17. Thos Wood of Phila and Anna Maria Wood
daughter of Marmaduke Wood married to-
day.
Levi Hopper deceased this morning.
End of diary Book No. 3, 90 pages, 1818.
On inside of first page preceding Index of 4th
Book, 9th mo. 2Oth, 1818, to 4th mo. 24, 1826, is written :
To my Executors
In respect to keeping a diary. I have done it for
my own convenience and satisfaction Yet I have
sometimes had thoughts of discontinuing it. But on
reflecting that I had often found a benefit, thereby find-
ing divers memorandums of things which (from my
own poor memory) had been by me forgotten, or not
known at what time they happened some of which I
have at times been anxious to know, and had forgot-
ten I had made any note of, until on looking over I
found, (sometimes unexpectedly,) an entry thereof,
which hath, at times, been very satisfactory and bene-
ficial to me in divers respects.
But as they will be of little or no use to any person
after my decease therefore unnecessary to expose them ;
and will perhaps be best to be put in the Fire by my
Executors amongst other (to them) useless papers.
12 mo 5, 1823 SAM'L MICKLE
1818.
9/30. John Fisher of Petersburg in Va. introduced
to me by Robt. Roe he being brother of
Sarah Fisher ye first girl my wife and I had
in our family. He informed me he re-
moved from here in 1791 and his sister Sarah
in 1792.
2io NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1818.
io/ 2. Heard Geo C. Wards wife Deborah dec'd at
ye Miamis lately.
io/ 2. At David Allinson's auction of Books at Jesse
Smiths, Innkeeper.
10/10. Jacob Seeds wife deceased ye morning.
10/12. Sam'l Tonkins house burned today.
Heard Thos Price deceased 3rd inst.
10/14. Cousin Jos. Whitall Supt of Westown School
removed there 10-15-1811 returned back
with family to Plantation today.
10/18. Martha Hinchman wife of Joseph deceased.
10/23. Had apple trees white washed.
11/7. Joseph Cooper of Coopers Point, Newton de-
ceased 27th ult.
i i/i i. Mary Miller wife of Jno Miller and daughter
of Anthony Allen, deceased.
1819
1/28. Thos Knights wife daughter of Josiah Stokes
deceased.
2/ 6. Thos Rawlings wife Ann dau of Job Brown
deceased this P. M.
2/14. Job Butcher deceased.
3/ 4. Dan'l Packers blacksmith shop burned down.
3/10. Called in Dr. Fithian.
3/1 1. Chas Knight & Achsah Clark married at our
meeting today.
3/12. Doctor Dayton Lummis consulted.
3/19. Deptford School not visited to day by one
trustee !
3/22. Casper Budd deceased in woods.
3/27. Benj Swett deceased.
4/ 3. Doctor Fithians father deceased at Cedarville.
4/29. Joshua Lords Stone house at Mantua Creek
burnt down today.
5/ 3. Phebe Brown widow of David buried.
NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 211
1819.
5/23. Jeremiah Paul buried in Phila.
6/ 7. Elizabeth wife of Jacob Haines dec'd today.
6/14. Sam'l Blackwood son of Jno & Ann Black-
wood interred nth inst.
7/ 6. Clement Reeve of ye ferry upper side Market
St Phila dec'd of yellow fever yesterday.
7/1 6. Brother Joseph Hinchman, his son Joseph and
grandson Samuel called. Brother informed
me he didn't know his own age exactly but
that he had been informed he was born on
ye same day on which John Glover de-
ceased was married. (2 mo 18 day 1751).
7/27. Resigned my office of Treasurer of ist day
School Society and Chas Ogden was ap-
pointed in my place.
7/29. Geo Tatums wife deceased ye morning.
8/ i. My beloved cousin James Cooper deceased this
evening aged 65-5-24. My age 72-10-19,
dif 7-5-25.
9/14. Got lock to front door repaired at Sam'l
Stevens, Cutler, Arch St Phila.
9/15. Attended Funeral of Wm Lawrence late Jailer
in Woodbury who deceased last night a
martyr to strong drink.
9/16. Cousin Chas. Stratton, Hannah his wife late
Mickle daughter of cousin Jas Mickle dec'd
and their two children Rhoda & James ar-
rived here from Ohio left us 11-2. Came in
i horse wagon.
9/18. Thos. Reeves at Clonmell dec'd ye morning.
io/ 6. Phebe Clark widow of Josiah dec'd.
io/ 9. Much of ye day spent with ye crowd at ye
courthouse in hearing witnesses and argu-
ments in ye case of black Jane Bowyer and
her four children claimed as runaway slaves
by Wm Jones of Delaware State who was
212 NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1819.
lately fined in said state 500.00 for kidnap-
ping. The blacks were this evening liberat-
ed but ye 3 witnesses against them im-
prisoned till further order. One of ye party
against said Blacks viz. Geo. Deshield
(after ye court adjourned to dine) made es-
cape on Jno. Moore Whites horse, lent him,
to Gloucester & thence crossed ye river to
Philada tho pursued by three constables.
For a more particular statement of this
business see Columbian Herald No. 5 p 2
Col 2 & etc.
10/10. The above named slave claimer Wm. Jones im-
prisoned today on charge of Subornation of
Perjury.
10/12. A great northern sky light tonight.
10/13. This day 10 yrs ago it pleased ye Lord to
take from me my dear partner of my joys
and sympathizer in my sorrows.
10/23. Benj Reeves son of Jos Reeves Sr. interred
at Biddle Reeves Burial ground.
10/27. Hannah Tatum wife of John Tatum Jr deceased
last evening aged 46 years lacking 16 days.
Buried 29th.
10/28. Heard Charlotte Wistar widow of Jno Wistar
deceased 26th inst.
1 1/ 6. At a meeting in ye Court house of inhabitants
of Woodbury to consider of means of pre-
venting ye court house and other ye public
Buildings from being removed to Camden.
i i/i i. Charles son of Geo & Edith Ward and Eliza
dau of Thos & Achsa Clark married at meet-
ing today.
11/14. Jacob Wood formerly teacher in Deptford
Free School House but latterly near Salem
dec'd loth inst in 62 year.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 213
1819.
11/17. Doctor Hartshorne of Phila attended me also
Dr. Joseph Fithian.
1 2/1 8. James Lord son of Constantine & Sarah Lord
deceased this P. M., in 38th year.
1820
i/ 3. Eph'm Daniels wife dec'd.
1/23. Doctor Thos Hendry's son Thos deceased in
Phila today.
2/20. Jos M. Hinchman married to 3rd wife Amy
daughter of Chas Collins on loth inst.
3/1 6. Clement H Kay (son of Isaac) & Edith Clark
daughter of Thos. married.
3/19. Invitation to funeral of Joseph Reeve of Man-
nington.
3/ 4. The foundation of Surrogates office in Wood-
bury begun.
4/ 5- Went to our jail ye evening to see cousin Jos.
Whitalls two sons Joseph & Benjamin put
in for non payment of a military fine of $6.50
each.
5/ 3- Wm. Tatum sen'r dec'd ist inst. Joined ye
procession as it passed through Woodbury
and walked with it to Presbyterian Burial
ground. An old acquaintance from lads.
6/25. Geo Dillvvyn deceased 23 inst in 83 year at
Burlington.
6/29. Abel Knight & Harriet Wilkins married.
7/ 5. Isaac Crim deceased today.
6/1 8. Ab'm Inskeep deceased last night in 69th
year.
7/30. Edith Hickman mother of Hannah died 22
inst.
8/ i. Jane Reeves widow of John deceased today.
8/20. Rec'd note from cous Sarah Glover viz "John
Glover and Mary was married i8th day of
214 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1820.
the 2d mo in year of our Lord 1751." Said
Jno & Mary were parents of Sarah Glovers
husband Joseph Glover. Joseph M. H inch-
man was born i mo 21 day 1785.
9/ i. Hannah Allen widow of Jededia Allen of Man-
nington dec'd yesterday aged 76 yr & u
mos.
9/10. Heard Jas Lee late of N. J. dec'd i8th of last
mo at New Orleans.
9/1 1. Benj Rulon says he was born ist mo 14 1761.
Rusa West he informed me is upward of 80
years.
9/21. Wm Tatums wife late Maria West deceased
ye morning in child bed.
9/23. Funeral of Benj. Howells son Alfred aged about
6 yrs from Ladds Cove.
Mentions Germantown Lane, Woodbury, fre-
quently throughout his diary, also Fairview.
10/11. Abel Clement deceased 9th inst.
10/19. Rode to Black Thos Manns in T. Saunders
Dearborn wagon. He deceased 2Oth sup-
posed to be in 68th year. Pays a glowing
tribute to the black who was a former slave
to his father-in-law Robt Friend Price who
dec'd 8-1, 1782, and set free by his executors.
Thos Mann was a Methodist and meetings were
held in his house.
10/19. Often uses a kind of abbreviated writing using
capitals only to record disownments, etc.
11/14. Jacob Davis of Woodstown aged 87 interred
to day.
I2/ 5. My lumber store also Thos Saunders Store
broken open last night.
12/17. Cous Mickle Whitall bid me farewell. Expects
to sail from Phila to-morrow for Canton in
China.
NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 215
1820.
12/25. Heard by Const. Wilkens that Doctor Benj
Vanleer deceased about 2 mos ago.
12/26. Read after candle light ye manuscript papers
respecting ye wars about Woodbury Dam
in 1754.
(Probably contention of neighborhood).
12/30. Joseph Lownes silversmith in Phila lately de-
ceased.
12/31. Called to see Joseph Reeves in his 8oth year.
1821
I/ I. Copied a ragged letter from Jno Woodhull
dated 10 mo 1774 to the then Margery Price
who became 10 mo 24 1776 my beloved
wife. This is the only time he ever mentioned
his wife's first name. Always writes of her
as my dear, my beloved or my precious
wife.
1/8. Refers to act of British Parliament in 1752
changing calendar n days.
1/13. At vendue of Jas B Caldwell and Michael C
Fisher store goods etc. next door.
1/22. Sam'l Paul of Upper Greenwich deceased yes-
terday in ye 88th year of his age born 3-22-
1733-
2/20. Mentions accident to Joseph Reeves of Wood-
bury on way to Redbank was upset near ye
far corner of ye Deer park on ye old road
and near ye run on ye side.
2/20. Benj Clouds son Joseph aged 19 married to
Jaggard.
2/24. Sam'l Tonkin in's 85th year deceased ye morn-
ing.
2/26. Searched for surveys and drafts amongst Jno
Alfords old papers in my possession lately
belonging to Uncle Jno Ladd dec'd to fur-
216 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1821.
nish E. D. Woodruff with some materials
for a map of Gloster Co. He came and took
such parts of them as I had picked out that
suited him.
2/28. Woodbury Herald No. 76 mentions ye decease
of Hannah widow of Peter Andrews 2ist
inst in her 86th year. Also in No 74 de-
cease of Elizabeth widow of Joseph Cooper
in her 8ist year, and marriage of Lydia Mc-
Carty our late tutoress for females upper
school.
3/ 2. Dr. Geo F Albert married Anna Maria Porter
an old maid of about 32 he 52 dwell at 164
N. 5 St Phila North side and near Vine.
3/ 4. Invitation to funeral of Mary Swett widow of
Benj deceased the 2nd inst in her 83d year.
3/ 8. David Hendrickson Sen'r at Rappaupa was in-
terred yesterday and Jas Tall man today.
3/22. Wm. Hopper moved to Sign of ye Buck tavern
near ye Windmill to keep tavern and that
Thos Scott had moved into Wm Hoppers
house.
4/ i. Sarah Branson widow and mother of wives of
Paul Cooper and Jacob Glover & etc dec'd
in 82 year of her age.
4/ 3. Albertus Somers a young man and watch
maker from Woodstown here seeking to es-
tablish himself in that occupation in Wood-
bury.
4/ 5. Heard another of my old schoolmates Jeffrey
Clark deceased ye 2nd inst in his 76th year.
4/ 9. Benj Rulon deceased in Phila this A. M., aged
60 yr 2 mo 24 da.
4/27. A great concourse (supposed several thousand
of people) from city and country men women
and children parading the streets of Wood-
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 217
1821.
bury to see ye awful spectacle of Hanging
black John Gooby on a gallows erected on
ye meadows next below Friends Burial
Ground and near ye Bridge But were dis-
appointed as ye Governor granted him a
respite until ye Governor & council meet
next month.
6/10. Cousin Martha Allinson says she was born 10
mo 1747 O S and said Uncle Timothy Mat-
lack in 1736.
6/1 6. Visited Michael Ingleton in his 79th year.
7/13. Thos Clement of Salem dec'd, brother of Joseph
Clement.
Rec'd of Joseph Clark of Phila by hands of
Jno Pimm of near Woodstown 65 tracts
containing 10 kinds. Took tracts to Maria
Ogden, Treas'r ist day School now and late
held at Academy.
7/27. This evening at Hannah Reeves where I met
with Deborah Lee widow of James Lee and
daughter of Chas West late of Woodbury
dec'd.
Three cases of yellow fever reported in Water
near Chestnut, Phila.
&/ 3- John Gills son a married man killed himself.
8/ 5. Doct Dayton Lummis deceased last night.
8/19. Josiah Hews of Phila (brother of late neighbor
Aaron Hewes dec'd) died on i7th inst aged
89.
8/30. Michael Ingleton deceased last night.
9/ 5. E. Gibson says he was born Sept 17, 1753.
9/1 1. Susan Shoemaker of Phila entered her 9ist
year last spring.
9/12. Entered my 76th year.
io/ 2. Nathan Ball and Atlantic his wife here from
Ohio 2 miles of Chas. Stratton.
14
218 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1821.
11/7. John Tatum Sr. deceased in his 83 year.
12/13. Joseph son of Jonathan Brown and Margaretta
daughter of Isaiah Ward married.
12/14. Black John Gooby who shot black Geo Tiller
ye 25th 4 mo 1820 Hanged today. Started
about noon toward ye gallows below Wood-
bury. A great disorderly crowd attending.
12/31. Recorded marriage certificate of David Gill of
Pilesgrove Salem Co. to Rachel daughter of
Moses Rulon of Woolwich.
1822
1/7. Journalized and posted books A. M.
Annual meeting of Fire Co P. M. at Court
house grand jury room.
1/30. Josiah Miller of Salem deceased igth inst age
62.
3/1. A meeting appointed by Amos Peasley from
ye neighborhood of Crosswicks N J for-
merly of New Hampshire removed last 12
mo 3 years to Crosswicks.
3/13. Town meeting in Woodbury.
3/15. Wm Oldcroft near Blackwoodtown dec'd this
morning.
3/27. Jno T. Glover's Fulling mill burnt.
3/31. Abigail Richardson late Blackwood wife of
Thos Richardson Bucks Co Pa deceased this
morning.
4/29. Mary Thornbury a maiden in 75th year of her
age deceased at Jno Moore Whites last
night. Buried in Friends B. ground at her
request.
5/24. Went to Phila called at Dan'l Millers Iron-
monger N. W. Cor. 2nd & New between
Vine & Callowhill Admr of Dan'l Rink late
of Swedesboro. Called to see Sarah Shoe-
NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 219
1822.
maker who enters 92 year on 27th. Heard
Rachel widow of Daniel Drinker was inter-
red yesterday aged 92 yrs.
Was at Jas. B;. Caldwells store S. Side Chest-
nut St wharf also Is. Trumps on N. side
Marks lane bet n & 12 bet Race & Cherry.
6/3. A letter from J. Higbee, Plumb Creek Indiana
Co Pa asking if Samuel Mickle is living or
not.
6/1 8. Sarah wife of Isaac T. Hopper deceased this
day.
6/26. John Tatum & Anne Biddle married today in
Phila.
6/30. Mickle Whitall called bid Farewell expects to
sail as ist mate tomorrow for Canton China.
7/19. Chas Townsend of Phila watchmaker called to
see me says his father Jno Townsend was
born i mo 10 1748 O. S. Charles about 45
years old.
7/29. Ann Cooper Whitall daughter of cous Jno S.
Whitall deceased this P. M. aged 31 yrs 5
mo 10 days (born 2 mo 19 1791).
8/ 4. Attended funeral of Rachel Saunders.
8/ 5. Mary Reeves widow of Arthur was interred to-
day in the 9Oth year of age, also her son
Arthur deceased to day likewise Bathsheba
Clayton wife of Edward Clayton also infant
child of Joseph Saunders.
8/ 6. Thos Carpenters wife Mary deceased last night
aged 74 years lacking 33 days.
8/10. Wm Sailors daughter abt 6 years old deceased
yesterday.
8/13. John Stephens dec'd last night aged abt 40
years.
8/15. Son of Isaac Doughten abt 7 yrs old and Jacob
Wilkins interred in Frds ground by per-
mission.
22O NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1822.
8/1 6. Heard Sam'l Coopers widow Prudence at
Camden deceased I4th inst in her 84th year.
8/23. Joseph Newbold in prime of life deceased of
yellow fever this morning.
Amos Campbell took off ye Shingles on newest
part of ye house built 1790 side next street
and put on new shingles.
8/25. John Brown son of David dec'd yesterday.
9/ 2. Robt Cooks wife Lydia deceased 3ist ult.
9/ 5. Geo Branner Jr & Hannah dr of Jas Davis an-
nouncement. Married 10-17.
9/ 9. Amos Fithian brother of Doctor Jas. Fithian
deceased this morning. Taken to Bridge-
ton today.
9/12. Dr. Thos Hendry deceased this evening aged
75 yrs last month. The longest an inhabi-
tant of Woodbury except Mary wife of
Eph'm Miller and daughter of Jno Sparks
deceased who was born and continued in
Woodbury & her husband told me she is
between 62 & 63 years of age.
9/13. Beulah Clement widow of Saml Clement sur-
veyor deceased age 84 years.
Great drought streams & wells dried up. Much
sickness.
Thos Hendry buried in Presby ground.
9/15. Hannah Newbold widow of Joseph deceased
last evening.
9/18. Woodbury Herald gives names of 14 persons
deceased within a few days past.
(Files of this paper are in Camden Free
Library) .
io/ 2. Theodosia Wilkins widow of Jacob dec'd this
morning.
10/20. Wm Sailer deceased ye P. M.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 221
1822.
10/24. J no Street, Ann his wife and 2 sons Zadoc &
Sam'l from Salem Ohio on their way home
350 miles which they expect to reach in 9
or 10 days. They reside abt one mile from
Chas Strattons.
10/29. Noah Jones interred yesterday.
11/12. In P. M. 7 of us (of our particular family)
went to Jesse Smiths innkeeper in Woodbury
to see ye natural curiosities in his yard viz.
A Male Lion, 2 leopards, one very Antick
Baboon, 2 of ye monkey species (very an-
tick) and an Ant eater, total 7 beasts.
Adults 25c Children 12^ cts.
Wm Harvey deceased this morning in ye 7oth
year of his age.
Sarah Knight wife of Jno Knight Sen'r and
formerly widow of Isaac Jones dec'd this
day in 63 year of her age.
11/16. Sarah wife of Wm. Becket (daughter of Const.
Lord dec'd) dec'd in 57th year of her age.
11/18. Set in new lamp post in front of my store.
11/19. Geo & Josh'a Glover brought to jail for mili-
tary fines today were liberated by Jacob
Glover this evening.
1 1/2 1. Tho Knight and Rebecca Andrews daughter
of Benajah married at meeting.
11/28. Dav'd Tatum dec'd yesterday in 4Oth year at
Wilmington.
12/14. J no Pissant deceased loth inst in his 68th
year.
Frequent mention of distant Friends at meet-
ings.
1823
1/2. John Fords wife interred.
1/9. Dan'l Harper son of Geo. and Sarah Sims dr.
of Stephen & Sarah Sims married.
222 NOTES ON OlvD GlX>UCESTER COUNTY.
1823.
1/15. At appointed meeting for Elias Hicks of Jeri-
cho Oyster Bay Long Island.
At Annual meeting of Lib. Co. & took out 7
Vol.
2/ 6. Jos Ogden & Lydia McCarty married.
Sam'l Bassett & Mary Ann Craft married.
2/ 7. Martha Tatum deceased this morning, late Jno
Tatum Sr's house keeper.
David Ward interred.
2/12. Mary Allen deceased last night in her 79th
year, widow of Anthony dec'd.
2/22. A celebration of Washington's Birthday.
A debating society has been occupying upper
room in Deptford Free School for some
time at nights without his knowledge.
3/ 5. Joshua Haines surveyor dec'd on 26th ult. Rev.
Dr. Andrew Hunter formerly a resident in
Woodbury deceased, at Washington City,
formerly a Presbyterian minister and a
teacher or schoolmaster at ye Academy in
this place.
3/ 7. Judith wife of Wm. Pine deceased this morn-
ing.
3/ 9. Cousin Elizabeth Gibson deceased this morn-
ing in 7oth year of her age, also cousin
Martha Allinson of Burlington in the 76th
year of her age, daughter of my beloved
uncle and guardian David Cooper.
3/19. Thos Redman senior deceased last evening
in 8ist year of his age.
4/ 2. Thos Wilkins deceased 3ist ult.
4/ 7. Annual Meeting Deptford Free School Society.
I having been continued a Trustee 43 years
successively viz. from ye annual meeting in
1780 till this time except twice in ye fore
part of term in 1783 & 1784 and also Treas-
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 223
1823.
urer 39 years successively viz. from 1784 to
this time. When from my advancing years
now in my 77th year and my many infirmi-
ties and sensible of my increasing incapa-
city I now (this with some reluctance) with-
draw both as Trustee and Treasurer, etc.
On the next day he delivers to his successor
school minute book, Deeds and Parchment
Constitution, loose papers, etc.
5/ 3. James Jaggard deceased ye ist inst.
6/13. Jno. Pearson of Battentown father of Jas. Keens
wife informs me James Keen dec'd on 8th
inst.
6/23. David Eldridge (uncle of Hannah Wood widow
of Zachariah) deceased I9th inst in 91 st
year.
6/29. Chas Townsend of Phila son of my fellow ap-
prentice Jno Townsend says his father was
born 6th i mo 1748.
7/ 6. Cousin Mickle Whitall on short visit, will
soon sail for Hamburgh in ye Ship America
Isaiah Eldridge Captain.
7/10. This P. M. ye house and lot formerly belong-
ing to Aaron Hewes late dec'd and wherein
his widow Jane and her late husband Jno
Reeve resided, was by Exer. of Josiah Hewes
dec'd sold at Vendue and bid off by Doctor
Jeremiah Foster at 2000.00 and that greatly
under its worth. I say 5000 value.
Sic transit gloria mundi.
7/15. Have been reading a good old book late be-
longing to my mother Lettitia Mickle dec'd
wherein she had wrote ye time of my birth.
7/22. Sarah Crim widow of Peter Crim dec'd yester-
day.
224 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1823.
7/22. Makes frequent record in his diaries of Frank-
lin Davenport representing him in Chancery
cases at Trenton.
3/ i. Rec'd by stage piece of wedding cake.
Wm. Yarnall Jr. & Angelina Matilda Alberti
married 25th inst.
8/ 3. Enoch (18 or 20) son of Sam'l Sterling de-
ceased.
8/ 4. Recorded in Thos Knights family Bible his 2
marriages his 2 wives births, children dc.
& decease of ist wife.
8/ 6. Attended funeral of Ira Aliens son Joseph
aged 14 yr 3 mo 22 days.
8/14. Asher Brown who built ye southerly part of
my present dwelling and who removed to
Ohio 19 years ago attended our meeting to-
day. His wifes brother is Geo Ward.
8/17. Hannah Hickman deceased. Don't know her
married name.
8/1 8. Enoch Tomlinson moved his family back again
to Phila today.
8/20. Sam'l Hudsons father John Hudson interred
to-day.
8/23. Isaac Mickle Jr. son of Isaac deceased yester-
day.
8/26. Jacob Haines of Upper Greenwich dec'd.
Daniel Elliott of Phila dec'd.
9/ 5. Jonathan Knight dec'd.
David Sharp dec'd.
John Baxters wife dec'd.
Ben] Smallwoods wife, of ye Toll Bridrre at
Newton Creek, dec'd.
9/ 7. Funeral of Joseph Reeves, son of Bidclle dec'd
and Brother of present Biddle.
9/ 8. Epm Millers son Nathan dec'd.
9/25. Funeral of Mercy Whitall.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 225
1823.
9/26. Josiah Stokes wifes mother Mary Borden or
Borton [Spelled both ways in diary] de-
ceased last evening aged 84 years.
Also Michael Mcllvanes wife and David
Porchs child.
10/12. Apollo Woodward interred today Frds Burial
ground.
10/17. Susana Ward daughter of Isaiah Ward dec'd.
10/28. Cousin Thos Saunders interred ye A. M. in ye
row.
10/29. Joseph Clement deceased ye morning in S/th
year.
11/3. Catherine West now of Mt. Holly made us a
short visit informed that her aunt Rusa West
sister of Jane Reeve deceased on ye 25th of
8 mo last. Had entered her 85th year born
4th or 5th mo 1739.
11/4. Robt. L. Armstrong's child Eleanor aged abt 4
years deceased ye day. Also Jno Sparks.
1 1/ 5. Jacob Glovers wife Mary deceased ye morning
in her 48th year.
Esther Smith of Salem married today to Doc-
tor Robt. Moore of Maryland.
n/6. Chas Middletons of Phila married to Ann
daughter of Thos Clark.
Attended funeral of Mary Glover.
Stacy Hazleton here today. He and Jacob son
of John Lippincott are adm'rs of estate of
Robt Cook dec'd each married a daughter
of Robert.
i i/i i. Went to Phila came by way of English's ferry
at Camden.
11/16. Visited John Wood born 85 yrs ago 9th mo
last.
11/16. Jeremiah Andrews deceased about 2 weeks ago.
Wm. Wallace dec'd I4th inst.
226 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1823.
11/19. Michael Loudenslager dec'd 6th inst in 66th
year.
11/21. 3 Black men whipped for stealing a Turkey.
I2/ 5. Aaron Hewes dec'd in 1789 now upwards of
34 years since. Refers to book bought at
vendue of his personal estate.
I2/ 7. Mickle Whitall makes brief call before sailing
for Gibraltar.
I2/ 9. Benj. Allen at Carpenters Bridge deceased yes-
terday.
1824
1/4. Invitation to funeral of Jonathan Brown who
deceased this morning in his 76th year.
1/13. Sheriff Col John Baxter dec'd this P. M.
2/ 4. Election in Woodbury today for Sheriff in
room of John Baxter dec'd, 4 candidates
viz Enoch Doughty of Egg Harbor, Chas
C. Stratton, J. Hinchman and John P. Van-
neman. I voted by ballot for Chas C. Strat-
ton I not having voted for 30 years I sup-
pose.
2/ 5. Short meeting. Isaac T. Hopper of Phila mar-
ried Hannah Atmore yesterday.
2/10. The new Sheriff Enoch Doughty qualified to
execute his office.
2/19. At Cousin Jas Hopkins ye P. M., his daughter
Beulah informed me that cousin Hannah
Fox in Phila deceased 8th inst in ye 76th
year of her age.
3/ 8. Jos. Saunders child Gilbert aged abt 3 months
dec'd.
4/17. Sam'l Shute of Indiana & wife Sibyl daughter
of Robt Cook dec'd and Sarah wife of Stacy
Hazleton, said Sam'l & wife on way home
to Indiana called.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 227
1824.
4/25. Invitation to funeral of Sarah Reeves at Kaighn
Point widow of Clement Reeves, daughter
of John Wood wheelwright, interred tomor-
row in ye Burial ground near Biddle Reeves.
4/28. Elizabeth wife of William Lippincott deceased
in Phila last night.
5/ 4. Deborah Davenport deceased this P. M. in her
64th year.
Two marriages :
Benj Sheppard and Mary Saunders dr of Jas
Saunders and Wm. Ballenger to Beulah
Ward dr of Isaiah Ward, Benj and Mary
Sheppard removed to Greenwich Cumber-
land Co.
5/19. Two children of Joseph D. Pedrick dec'd.
5/25. James Dorman cabinet maker in Woodbury
deceased this morning.
6/ 9. Richard Tittermany of Swedesboro, Rope
maker formerly of Phila deceased aged 71.
6/12. Matilda Yarnall late Alberti, lodges.
6/16. Jno W. Tatum late of Woodbury now of Wil-
mington married loth inst to -Mary Canby
daughter of Sam'l Canby of Wilmington.
6/19. Had my 4 Raisors and 3 Penknives ground by
traveling raisor grinder.
7/ 2. Went to Phila called at 60 N. 2 to see Sarah
Shoemaker in 94th year thence to Mary
Stewart 27 N. 2 to get a leghorn hat, called
at Jno S. Whitalls 244 Race St. Heard
Joseph Scattergood dec'd 27th ult.
7/ 3. Heard Mark Low son of Thos dec'd yesterday.
7/13. Took my watch to Albertus Somers watch
maker to have main spring replaced.
7/17. Lydia Reeve daughter of Peter Reeve dec'd
and grand daughter of Jno Reeve made me
an acceptable visit.
228 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1824.
7/17. Sam'l Richards said the water gage at the hos-
pital rose 4 & 6-10 inches in consequence
of great rain on 2Qth ult, and Jas Saun-
ders said it was 4 1-3 at Woodbury dam.
8/ 3. Sam'l Saunders wife's father Archibald Mof-
fatt deceased this morning.
8/1 1. Jacob Lippincott son of Solomon dec'd &
Lydia died on 8th inst aged about 70 years
at Evesham.
8/14. Wm. H. Reeves son of Sam'l & Hannah Reeves
of Redbank dec'd about 2 yrs of age.
8/15. Thos Clarks wife Rachel, Doctor McCalla,
John Wood, Sarah Scott, Josiah Franklin,
Sam'l Hudsons wife and 2 children all ill.
8/17. Doctor Wm H. McCalla dec'd last night, to
be interred at Greenwich Cumb Co tomor-
row.
8/19. John Wood dec'd aged about 86 years. In-
terred 2Oth at Marmaduke Wood's ground.
8/21. Joseph Mickle of Newton is to be interred to-
morrow.
8/23. Jas. Saunders son Joseph dec'd this morning
aged nearly 16 years. Application made for
David Carsons son aged abt 3 years to be
buried in Frds Burial Ground.
8/24. Jas. Richie's child Henrietta dec'd this morn-
ing also Jas. Carry at ye stillhouse lot dec'd
ye A. M.
8/25. The Woodbury Herald of ye day says Charles
Thomson in ye 95th year of his age dec'd
23 inst. He was Secretary to the Congress
of the U. S. during ye whole period of the
Revolutionary war.
Great preparations contemplated for ye recep-
tion of General Lafayette and son George
Washington Lafayette as they may visit ye
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 229
1824.
several parts of ye U. S. they having lately
arrived at N. York from France.
8/26. Visited by Margery Mickle Hopper and Ruth
Bassett daughter of Nathan Bassett of Wil-
mington.
8/29. Benedict Dorsey son of Benedict Sr. who de-
ceased about 14 years ago and Edward
Hicks attended meeting.
8/30. Jno Justice from Falls mo. meeting near
Trenton at meeting Sam'l Webster and
Geo. Craft borrowed a great coat for him.
8/31. Wrote Letter to Rachel R. Simmons at Porto
Rica.
9/ 2. Painted my 2 largest O'l Cloths for ye floor
in ye back part of my big parlour for winter
season also ye leather to carry wood on.
9/ 4. Jer. J. Fosters son dec'd this being the 2nd.
viz Clement and Theodore D.
Hear John Drivers agreeable wife deceased
yesterday.
9/ 6. Jno Johnson lately buried his wife and three
children all he had.
Wm Dyer deceased about 7 inst at Sweedes-
boro.
9/10. Chas Ogden dec'd this morning had entered
his 72 year last month.
9/15. Aden Craft passed thro Woodbury on stage to
his fathers.
9/17. Isaac Ballenger sick also daughter Priscilla.
Sarah Scott continues ill, Sam'l Hudson's
youngest child. Wm. Fifer and 3 children
sick, Henry Roe's wife sick.
John Derrickson Swedesboro deceased yester-
day.
Josiah Stokes daughter Lydia and John Duf-
fels wife sick.
230 NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1824.
9/20. Elias Deacon Woodruff deceased at Trenton
yesterday in ye 38th year of his age.
9/24. Isaac Ballenger dec'd. Will be greatly missed
in our neighborhood.
9/30. Mary, widow of Joseph Eastlack interred in
Friends Bur'l grounds.
John Hunt of Evesham lately dec'd.
io/ 3. Sarah Scott deceased aged 70 yrs 3 mo last.
io/ 7. Invitation to funeral of Mary Jessup only
daughter of Jas. Jessup aged about 23 years.
10/13. My beloved wife this day 15 years left her soli-
tary husband and went to Heaven her
home.
10/17. An invitation to funeral of Elizabeth wife of
Reuben Jennings who deceased last night.
It was the custom at Friends' meetings to extend
invitations to funerals.
10/17. Ep'm Heritages wife dec'd.
10/18. Thos Clark here ye P. M. and took away
Clement & Edith Kays marriage certificate
and informed me his daughter Edith intend-
ed to apply at the next sitting of the Legis-
lature for a Divorce from her husband ye
said Clement H. Kay and that he was some-
where in ye back parts of New York State.
10/18. Daniel England's funeral at Swedesboro.
10/19. Joseph Reeves (son of Thos dec'd) dec'd yes-
terday at his residence in Clonmell.
10/23. Sam'l Saunders daughter Mary aged 5 or 6
years deceased ye morning.
11/4. At meeting where a petition was signed to ye
Legislature to counteract another petition
to establish a Race ground in this State.
Invitation to ye funeral of Elizabeth wife of
Ambrose Ewing.
n/io. Capt. Wm Yarnall Jr & wife late Matilda Al-
berta arrived by stage and lodge.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 231
1824.
11/14. Invitation to ye funeral of Keziah wife of
Isaac Collins late Chew daughter of Job
Kinsey dec'd.
11/17. Doctor Jer. J Foster's daughter age 13 mo
dec'd.
11/18. Benj Blackwood & Mary Ann Hopkins mar-
ried at Haddonfield.
11/20. Joseph Reeve dec'd last night aged 83-4 mo-
9 d buried from his son in laws Michael C.
Fisher 2ist.
11/25. Prep Meet'g no business except the reading
a minute of Prep't've meeting of 2 mo 1767
and rules then made presenting ye terms
of admitting persons not in membership
with Friends for interment in Fr'ds Bur'l
grounds. Sam'l Webster now appointed in
room of Isaac Ballinger late dec'd as one of
the standing committee of 3 for that pur-
pose.
11/26. Doctor Jos. H. Erwin Swedesboro deceased yes-
terday morning.
11/27. Jno. T. Glover, fuller deceased last evening in
ye 7ist year of his age.
I2/ i. Joseph Garwood plastering tenement.
I2/ 3. Mentions acct. against Dr. Francis Hover.
12/10. Went to Phila. Cousin Thomasin Roberts
widow of George Roberts and daughter of
Joseph Fox deceased about three weeks ago.
James M. Glover married to Mary S. Dough-
ten yesterday.
12/12. Mickle Whitall came ye morning staid about
Y-Z hour and bid farewell for about 16 months
absence he expecting to sail as Captain in
a large New Ship in about a week hence for
Liverpool and from thence to Canton.
Martha wife of John Shivers dec'd.
232 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1824.
12/21. Ira Allen expects to remove to ye neighbor-
hood of Lake Ontario near Buffalo.
12/29. Sarah Reeves widow of Joseph (& formerly
widow of Job Whitall and daughter of Jno
Gill Sr. of Haddonfield) dec'd this A. M.
Aged 73-7 mo- 1 day buried Woodbury
Friends ground.
1825
i/ 3. This P. M. a meeting held at Court House to
devise means to counteract ye Camdenites
in respect to removal of Court House and
other public buildings from Woodbury to
Camden.
1/13. Isaac Mickles son Benj'm & Ann Blackwood
married this day at Haddonfield.
1/21. Hinchman Haines' son Hinchman and Priscilla
Warrington late from & residents of ye
State of Ohio and daughter of Ab'm War-
rington of said place and Hester Warrington
of near Moorestown daughter of Henry
Warrington all dined here today.
1/25. Went to Deptford upper school in company
with Patience, widow of Thos Sparks to in-
troduce her and 3 sons Josiah, Robert &
Samuel to ye teacher Thos Booth.
1/30. This P. M. wrote for cous Geo. Mickle a memo
respecting Births & deaths in ye compass of
Upper Greenwich Prep meeting.
2/ 4. Most of ye day drawing a/c of deficiencies in
births and deaths on record for Woodbury
monthly meeting.
2/ 7. Gave Dr. Fithian liberty to make and burn a
Brick kiln on my triangular lot bo't of Jno
Tatum.
2/ 8. Election at Squancum today respecting Re-
moval of ye seat of Justice from Woodbury
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 233
1825.
to Camden. Election to be held at Wood-
bury tomorrow.
James Stephens brother of ye late Rachel Saun-
ders dec'd was interred this day at family
Burial ground.
2/ 9. Election day in Woodbury to determine
whether ye seat of Justice be removed from
Woodbury to Camden. Gave my vote in
favor of its continuance at Woodbury and
Friends very generally gave their votes in
favor of Woodbury. A very general elec-
tion to which ye sick lame and blind were
bro't forward.
2/10. Election Return at Egg Harbor gave to Cam-
den a majority of 159 votes. Total vote in
the County 4160. Majority for Woodbury
876. But 8 votes in Deptford in favor of
Camden.
2/14. Bought of Enoch Allen merchant tailor of
Phila tenement lately occupied by his brother
Ira Allen. Leased it to Sam'l Johnsoa
2/17. Sarah Cooper (widow of Amos) deceased
this A. M. also heard Nathaniel Buzby Mau-
rice River dec'd 10 mo-ioth last.
2/18. Cous. Hannah Whitall informed me her father
John Mickle deceased when she was about
15 months of age viz. in 5th mo 1774. Her-
self born 2 mo- 1 3 da 1773.
2/21. Drew 2 lists of deficiencies or such as are not
yet recorded in ye records of Woodbury
mo meeting viz. Births & Deaths i for each
Prep meeting.
2/23. Cousin Mary wife of Wm Glover & dau of
cousin Sam'l Mickle deceased this morn-
ing aged 48-4mo-7 da. Also Benj Carpen-
ter, Cedar Cooper, dec'd. Also Rachel Al-
15
234 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1825.
len daughter of Anthony & Mary Allen dec'd
this P. M. aged 55-10 mo-4 d.
3/ i. Josiah Clark deceased last night.
3/ 2. Our village Herald says George Alberti Jr
Constable was shot on Tuesday week (or 3
day 22 ulto.) near Haddonfield in an at-
tempt to arrest a fugitive slave.
All through his diaries he, S. M., describes the ail-
ments and causes of deaths. He had many callers and
made constant visits and records names in great num-
bers. I do not repeat names more often than neces-
sary. F. H. S.
3/ 8. Chalkley Glover married 3d inst.
3/1 6. Village Herald of this date says. "Died at his
residence at Mays Landing on Wed. last Qth
inst. Colonel Richard Wescott in ye 92 year
of his age." But agreeable to what he told
me a few years ago he was but in his 9Oth
year viz. 89 years & 4 mo of age.
3/25. Jno Cooper and Abraham Anderson colored
men employed by him.
S. M. had several books of receipts for making
all kinds of cures for various diseases and frequently
writes of his work and uses of his own drugs and com-
binations. F. H. S.
3/31. Richard Snowden of Phila formerly of this
town deceased last evening.
Richard Jordan lost his wife about three weeks
ago.
4/ 4. Made I qt of best ink. [It was a fine ink judg-
ing from his diary, still unfaded].
4/ 7. Howard Abbott & Susan Stokes married.
4/ 8. Drew letter of Atty appointing Zebulon Wolf
to ye care of my Swedesboro business he to
collect and pay me ye ground rents and he
to receive ten per cent for his trouble.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 235
1825.
4/ 9. Mary Hopper wife of Wm Hopper (late Mary
Saunders daughter of John Saunders dec'd)
deceased this evening aged 46 yrs I mo.
She came to reside in my family when about
7 years of age & continued therein until
she married Wm. Hopper, then 24 yrs of
age, in my family about 17 years.
4/10. Eli Stratton from Ohio lodges.
4/20. Executed to Zebulon Wolf letter of Atty to
transact my business at Laddstown.
4/24. One of our Woodbury Lawyers Robt Pearson
deceased last night.
5/ 3. Cousin Isaac Mickle deceased in Camden in
his 68th year.
Went to Phila visited Zollicoffs medical store
N. E. cor Pine & 6th St. Anna Guest in-
formed me that her sister Elizabeth was
born 7 mo New Style 1749.
He always visited E. & A. Guest when in Phila.
F. H. S.
5/ 5. Jno Knight and Mary Lippincott married to-
day at Upper Greenwich.
5/ 7. Rec'd First report of Provident Society for ye
employment of the Poor, also a copy of ad-
dress delivered before ye Philada Society for
Promoting Agriculture at its annual meet-
ing on ye i8th Jany 1825, by Roberts Vaux.
6/ 5. Adin Craft deceased yesterday.
7/ 6. Joseph Justice brick mason in Philada fell
from Scaffold last week and died.
7/20. Josiah Eldridge, Evesham, dec'd i5th inst.
7/24. Cousin Jos. Whitall informed me his cousin
Sam'l Cooper (stiled General Cooper) near
ye lower bridge over Raccoon Creek de-
ceased yesterday to be interred ye P. M.
He was ye son of Robert Cooper who used
236 NOTES ON OiyD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1825.
to farm for Uncle Jno Ladd deceased. Said
Robert Cooper and Benj Whitall ea mar-
ried a daughter of John Hopper dec'd, said
J. H. dwelt on ye farm whereon Benj. Lord
now resides.
7/29. Sam'l Hudsons sister Sarah Hudson dec'd this
A. M.
8/ 2. Attended funeral of Dan'l Packers child aged
about 3 years. James Gibsons wife Hannah
deceased last night.
8/ 3. This days Herald says "Died at Bridgeton 23
ult. General James Giles in ye 67th year,
formerly an inhabitant of Woodbury."
Thos. Clements wife Rachel deceased this morn-
ing.
8/10. Ann Lawrie widow of Thos Lawrie interred
7th inst.
James Freeland dec'd about 2 months since.
8/1 1. Am informed by Jesse Owen that his father
Joshua Owen deceased last 3rd mo.
8/14. At meeting, Hannah widow of Zaccheus Test,
daughter of Joseph Reeves dec'd from ye
State of Ohio last Autumn, on visit she says
they removed from ye neighborhood about
20 years since and that her husband dec'd 2
mo 2d 1819.
8/23. Wm. Hopper dec'd.
8/31. Abigail Woodruff widow of Elias Deacon
Woodruff and daughter of Sam'l Whitall re-
moved yesterday to her fathers in Mary-
land and from thence intends removing to
Trenton.
This days Herald says on ye nth inst deceased
Elizabeth widow of Jno Driver aged 90
years 2 mos and on ye 27th inst Josiah H.
Middleton son of Aaron H. Middleton dec'd
late of Woodbury.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 237
1825.
9/ 4. Attended at ye house of Doctor Sam'l Howell
in Woodbury ye funeral of his child which
was interred at Newtown.
9/12. Entered my Both year.
9/1 8. Ann Roe wife of Robt. Roe born 7 mo 12 1791
dec'd this morning.
Sam'l Webster having at several times disputed
my calculations respecting ye old and new
Stile and he calling in to see me ye even-
ing I showed him Poor Richards Almanac
for 1752 wherein is the British Act of Par-
liament for changing the Old Stile to ye
new. When after some altercation he con-
cluded my calculation to be right viz. ye 12
of 9 mo New Stile to be my birth day being
born 7 mo i 1746 Old Style.
9/27. Uriah French dec'd today to be interred in
Frds Burial ground tomorrow.
9/28. At funeral of Uriah French.
9/29. Attended at ye house the funeral of Elizabeth
wife of Daniel Fortiner Blacksmith in
Woodbury. Interred at Haddonfield.
IO/ I. Cousin Jas Mickle here from ye State of Ohio
accompanied by Benj Shreeve of said state
whose residence is abt i l / 2 mile distant from
Chas Strattons residence.
IO/ 2. Thos Matthews & Othniel Alsop from Philada
attended our meeting. They and 2 of Wm.
Folwells sons dined.
IO/ 9. Mary wife of Marmaduke Wood dec'd today.
10/10. Jas Glovers wife Mary daughter of Isaac
Doughten dec'd this morning.
10/18. James Saunders informed me that Sarah Shoe-
maker in Philada widow of Jonathan Shoe-
maker my old mistress also that his fathers
old master were both interred
last 4th day.
238 NOTES ON OLD GIX)UCESTER COUNTY.
1825.
10/18. S. Shoemaker born 5-31-1731 N. S., therefore
aged 94-4m-3d, or in her 95th year.
1 1/ 3. Went in Dearborn wagon to Philada called at
Thos Shoemakers son of Sarah Shoemaker.
Her daughter in law Susan Shoemaker in-
formed me her mother in law Sarah deceased
on ist day morning, ye Qth ult etc. Called
to see Wm Folwell & wife between 6th &
7th St.
10/10. This morning delv'd to Cousin Josh Lord a
letter & a basket with a 2 gallon jar for
him to take to Salem when going to Quar-
terly meeting to be sent thence to Jos. Stew-
ards* for Honey abt 6 or 7 miles.
10/14. Cousin Anna Mickle dec'd.
10/16. Wm Yarnall Sen'r and his daughter in law
Matilda late Alberti and her child Edwin
aged about 4 months. Said Wm Yarnall
had never been in N. J. but once before
about 50 years ago.
10/20. Sarah Wright a young woman from about 60
miles dist from Phila grand daughter of
Eunice Starr took T. last evening.
11/22. Again spoke Franklin Davenport in street re-
specting Chancery business and signified to
him my thought of employing another At-
ty.
11/28. Amos Peaslee & wife and daughter before &
from meeting also Sarah Cresson, Eliza-
beth Pitfield & Thos Evans son of Enoch
Evans.
I2/ i. Went with Benj Cloud to view my lot, lately
purchased of Jno. Tatum.
* There are scores of various entries similar to above. This one
is copied because it probably refers to my grandfather, Joseph Stew-
ard, of Salem Co. F. H. S.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 239
1825.
I2/ 7. Woodbury Herald says Jno Frith dec'd 3Oth
ult in's 69th year.
Peter Wheaton was interred today.
Black Jno Cooper gone off to sea again.
12/11. Invitation to Funeral of John Ward's wife
Hannah.
1 2/1 6. George Wards son Charles dec'd ye morning
in's 29th year.
12/21. Benajah Andrews deceased this A. M. exactly
57 years old, born 12-21-1768.
Woodbury Herald says on 5th inst Jesse
Sparks in Gloster town in 5oth year of his
age and on I4th inst his widow Abigail
Sparks deceased in 57th year of her age.
12/26. Heard Henry Bradshaw of Upper Greenwich
deceased some time last Autumn and his
son Moses dec'd yesterday.
From meeting came Hannah wife of Is'c Steph-
ens his son Isaac, daughter Hannah and his
wifes sister Mary Weatherby etc.
Wm Lippincott of Upper Greenwich deceased
this morning aged 70-2 m-12 d.
1826
I/ 2. Edith wife of Geo Ward dec'd age 55-1 mo-
ii d.
Rachel Wilkins daughter of James Wilkins
(many years dec'd) commonly known as
Nurse Williams deceased this morning.
I/ 4. Woodbury Herald mentions that Lydia Sweeten
near Swedesboro dec'd 26th ult aged 104
years.
1/5. Jacob Glover married to Sarah Kay widow.
1/14. Ambrose Ewing deceased today interred in
Frds Burial Ground I5th.
240 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1826.
1/15. Hannah Reeve widow of Peter dec'd last night.
She lived with Aunt Hannah Ladds family
and we in our early life were house mates.
1/30. Sam'l Leeds of Egg Harbor attended our
meeting yesterday.
2/ i. Wbodbury Herald says Dec'd near Pedrick-
town i mo 25 last Asa Kirby age 73 and sud-
denly at Haddonfield John Reeves 2Qth ult.
2/ 2. Geo. M. Campbell son of Amos dec'd tonight in
his 2 ist year.
2/ 3. Hannah wife of Dan'l Y. Packer dec'd this
morning.
2/ 8. Sent for my Woodbury Herald and word
bro't back no paper all sick.
Josiah Franklin married ye evening.
2/ 9. Woodbury Herald says Out of four (4) persons
employed in this office not one has been capa-
ble of doing a days work during ye past
week and at this time one of our men lies
dangerously ill the rest are in a state of Con-
valescence and among other deaths says
"In Gloster town on ist day last Sarah Henry,
widow of David in ye 75th year of her age."
I also add she was a schoolmate of mine at
Gloucester to an Englishman David James
Dove at which time I resided with my Uncle
John Mickle about i mile from Gloucester.
Elizabeth 2nd wife of Biddle Reeves dec'd this
A. M.
2/10. Sarah wife of Sam'l B Lippincott deed 9th
inst.
2/12. James B. Caldwell deceased today. Interred in
Presbyterian ground I4th.
2/1 6. Sam'l Ballengers wife Mary Ann deceased ye
morning.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 241
1826.
2/1 6. On answering ye Annual Queries What min-
isters & Elders have dec'd & where. The
following were reported Joshua Owen
Pilesgrove dec'd 3 mo 8-1825 m ' s 7& vear -
Asa Kirby same meeting 1-25, 1826 in's 73
year. Hannah Kirby widow of Asa 1-28-
1826 in 75th year.
James Freeland Salem monthly 6 mo 7 1825 in
69th year.
Lydia Baner Cape May 10-19-25 in 78 year.
2/1 8. David Perec's wife Martha & Isaac Murrays
wife Hope interred this day.
2/21. Robt Roe's daughter Sarah Ann deed ye even-
ing about 8 or 9 ye'rs of age.
2/22. Woodbury Herald amongst other deaths says
on ye I4th inst Joshua son of Richard Mof-
fatt in 2ist year. On 3Oth Rebecca widow of
Sam'l Kille. Same day Charlotte wife of
Lewis Green.
3/ 7. Thos Githens of Haddonfield interred 25th ult.
3/21. John Sterling house carpenter dec'd ye P. M.
4/ 8. Nurse Ann Reeves here ye P. M. Aged 85
years last month.
4/24. Heard Isaac Collins late of Chestnut ridge
dec'd ye 2ist interred yesterday P. M. at
Woodbury aged 84-5 23 da.
One hundred and eighty (180) pages in Book No. 4.
From 9 mo 20 1818
to
4-24-1826, inclusive.
BOOKS
1826.
4/30. Elizabeth Lord daughter of Constantine Lord
dec'd, deceased ye P. M.
242 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1826.
5/ 2. Ann Lord daughter of John Lord left us on
her way home accompanied by Cousins
James Mickle, James Lord, son of Joshua
. Lord, and his daughter Mary.
5/ 3. This days Herald says John Sparks formerly
of this town a revolutionary Capt. deceased
the 30 ult in ye 7Oth year of his age.
5/12. Dr. Sam'l P. Griffith Phila deceased this A. M.
5/21. Cousin James Hopkins deceased this A. M.
To be interred at Haddonfield tomorrow.
6/ 4. Jos Franklin's only son ab't 9 mos of age de-
ceased yesterday.
6/14. Woodbury Herald of ye date mentions decease
of Wm Griffith of Burlington, 7th inst
lawyer and clerk of supreme Court of U. S.
also ye decease of David Somers ye loth
inst.
6/1 6. Jno Allen & Wife Elizabeth and her widow
sister Ann Sleeper, here from Otsego 70
miles beyond Albany, said woman being
daughter of Thos. Cooper formerly of this
place.
6/23. This morning Thos. Chapman informed me I
am to be called upon by ye Court to prove
Ebenezer Manns father Thos Mann was a
free man. I therefore went to ye Clerks
office and took a memo from ye Record of
his manumission.
6/26. Benjn Ladd, Hester French both Elders and
Elisha Bates and Rebecca Updegraf both
Ministering Friends here at Mo. Meeting
from Ohio.
6/27. Jacob Medara, carpenter, deceased P. M.
6/29. Went to Dan'l Harker's about 4 miles from
Mullica Hill thence to John Gill's at his
Grist Mill head of Raccoon Creek.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 243
1826.
6/29. Dined at Mark Brown's Innkeeper at Swedes-
boro.
7/ 4. A great parade and noise today in Woodbury
celebrating ye Jubilee of Independence or
5oth year.
7/13. Thos Jefferson & Jno Adams both late Presi-
dents of U. S. and Jeptha Abbott a Metho-
dist Minister all deceased on ye 4th inst.
The ist in his 84th year and 2nd in his gist
and ye 3rd in his /3d year of age.
7/17. Jno Dawson father in law of Wm Rambo de-
ceased ye morning aged 79-9. Interred in
Strangers Burying Ground.
7/19. Phineas Buckley aged 84-4-17. Elder from
Phila at Jas. Saunders.
7/21. John Sharp formerly of Woodbury now of No.
317 Second St. called.
7/25. Rebecca Thornton white washing my pale fence.
&/ 5- John M. Gibson deceased ye P. M. his sister
Sarah being absent buried in Presb'y Bur'l
ground. Permission to inter in Friends Bur-
ial ground refused.
8/13. Invitation to funeral of Sarah West at 4 P. M.
at house of her son in law Jas. Jessup.
8/23. Black John Coopers wife Dinah deceased this
A.M.
8/29. Cousin Sarah wife of Jno. S. Whitall deceased
aged 59-9-29.
9/ 7. Lydia Saunders at Evesham widow of Solomon
Saunders mentioned.
9/1 1. Henrietta Harker married Jeremiah Haines.
9/12. My Birth day commenced my 8ist year.
9/20. Woodbury Herald says died on 4th inst., in his
67th year Elisha Clark 25 years Clerk of Glo.
Co. Court but for 20 years resident of Phila.
244 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1826.
9/26. John Jessup of Evesham (son of Jno. and Eliza-
beth Jessup dec'd) deceased last night.
9/29. Heard Edmund Weatherby deceased 2$th inst.
in 63 yr of his age.
io/ 4. Getting down my stove wood from wood house
loft into lumber store.
10/11. Election in Woodbury.
10/13. This morning 17 years since my dearly beloved
wife departed this life.
My cousin Mary Allinson of Burlington, Han-
nah Matlack of New York (daughter of uncle
White Matlack) and Hannah Whitall wife
of Joseph visited me ^ hr.
10/14. It appears that said Cousin H. Matlack's and my
grandfather was ye same person viz. Timothy
Matlack, Brewer of Haddonfield and that she
hath no other ist cousin beside me in ye
neighborhood.
10/14. Richard Jordan of Newton died aged 70-9^28.
10/30. Rachel Simmons wife of Wm. arrived at Phila
from Porto Rico yesterday A. M.
11/13. Sam'l Webster with a petition to our Legisla-
ture to incorporate Woodbury Fire Co. on
short visit.
11/16. About noon came Wm. Folwell's wife Rebecca
from Phila to see me and said she expected
her husband to call for her shortly, they being
on their way to his Brother Nathan Folwells
at or near Mullica Hill.
Jacob Mull also called.
11/23. Heard Phineas Buckley deceased yesterday.
Cous Jno. Mickle and Ann Stokes to be married
12/7.
11/28. In Phila at Thos. Van Dykes No. 18 Gaskill St.
by ye New Market. At Thos. Simmons, Jr.,
83 Wood St. M. Fisher's & Son No. 58
Chestnut St.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 245
1826.
I2/ 5. Thos. Schumo watch maker of Phila, Sam'l
Ladd an Egg Harbour man, Cousin Jos.
Whitall, Benj. Cloud and Abel Clement all
here at different times today.
12/14. Thos. Shipley and Lydia Elliot both of Phila
married today.
1827
2/ 8. Dr. Sam'l Howell intends to remove to Prince-
ton next month.
2/12. This P. M. walked to ye tenement late of Thos.
Mann dec'd to see whether it was occupied
and by whom. Found therein Black Rachel
wife of Wm. Miffiin (ye latter a runaway
slave and now again absconded for fear of
being taken up) and 2 or 3 black children also
Adam Chester a black preacher ye husband
of Hannah formerly Peterson lately married
all colored people. On my way there called
to see Isaac Cheesman who told me he was
born 2 mo. Feby 22, 1752.
2/15. Herald says Jedediah Allen and Hannah daugh-
ter of Sam'l Abbott married 7th inst. and
Thos. Borton and Elizabeth Lippincott 8th
inst. Matilda Yarnall resides at No. 9 Cherry
St. Phila bet 3 & 4th Sts.
2/23. Dan'l J. Packer married to Eliza Jones widow
of Noah Jones this eve'g. Her maiden name
Cole.
2/27. Was up stairs in ye Court House this P. M. and
had several shocks of electricity in ears, neck,
shoulders, arms, etc. for rheumatism etc. by
Doctor Crane.
3/2. Took another electric treatment minutely de-
scribed.
246 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1827.
3/ 4. At Cousin Sam'l Websters to see Beulah Snow-
den and also met there with Rachel Mickle
daughter of Isaac Mickle late dec'd ; was also
at Dan'l J. Packers.
3/21. Thos. Carpenter here today.
4/ i. Went to see poorly, Reuben Jennings at his son
in law Aaron Pauls, late ye farm of Thos.
Scott dec'd now Wm. Coopers farrrL
4/ 6. This P. M. at ye widow Elizabeth Dawsons who
is in trouble over ye marriage of her son
John on I5th ult.
4/1 1. Todays Herald says Wm. Mickle was married
in Phila ye 3rd inst to Charity Turner.
4/12. Sam'l Sterlings wife Martha deceased this morn-
ing.
4/1 8. Woodbury Herald of this day proclaims Josiah
R. Andrews married I2th inst. to Achsah
daughter of David Cooper at Haddonfield.
Same day at Woodstown Wm. Carpenter, Jr.
of Mannington to Hannah daughter of Gid-
eon Scull deceased.
5/ i. Susannah widow of Wm. Tatum deceased in
88th year, born 10 mo. Oct. 1739.
5/13. Caroline daughter of Jno. Cade Jailor dec'd in
her 1 7th year.
5/1 8. John G. Whitall, Red Bank, deceased last night
aged 44-10-10.
5/23. Eliza widow of Charles Ward daughter of Thos.
Clark deceased at her fathers this morning
aged 29-0-25.
5/27. Ann Reeves on visit and t'd in her 87th year.
6/1 6. Cooper Wells brother of and partner with Rich-
ard M. Wells (they occupying ye store be-
longing to cousin Sibyl Rulon) deceased this
morning buried Friends Burial Ground I7th.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 247
1827.
6/17. Mickle Whitall on short visit arrived in Phila
1 3th inst from Canton in China.
6/24. Nathan Bassets wife Sarah deceased last 9th
month, this from Margery M. Hopper.
7/ i. Describes Canal Phila to Reading and Maiden
Creek 84 bridges and 37 locks fare $5.00 one
way besides diet lodging at tavern iz l /2 cts.
Trip made by M. M. Saunders.
7/ 4. Favored in Woodbury with stillness but not so
favored at Sweedesborough this frolicking
day.
7/14. Wm. Yarnall to follow his Brig to New Castle
bound to the Brazils South America. His
wife continues with us yet.
7/17. Joseph Garwood and brother John arrived here
to day to whitewash.
8/13. Uncle Timothy Matlacks daughter Catherine
Murray residing with her father about n
miles from Phila accompanied by Hester
Matlack daughter of Ab'm Matlack residing
about i mile this side of Moorestown said
C. Murray aged 60 yrs. last 4 mo. grand
daughter of Timothy Matlack of Haddonfield
visited today.
8/15. Herald says on nth inst Margaret Treadway
aged nearly 90 years dec'd nth inst.
8/17. Sam'l Johnson (my tenants) wife Minerva de-
ceased yesterday. Interred at Presby Burial
ground.
8/20. Deborah wife of Mark Brown at Swedesboro
deceased this A. M. Interment at Wood-
bury said Deborah was daughter of Jas. Whit-
all Jr. and formerly widow of Aaron Hewes
Middleton.
8/21. In Phila at Jno. Townsend, Jr. where father
Jno. Townsend Sr. deceased 3 mo. 8 last in
his 8oth year.
243 NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1827.
8/28. Letter from Matilda Yarnall says her brother
Charles Albert! dec'd last week aged 35 years.
9/ i. Jos. Saunders child Rebecca Ann dec'd aged a
little over i year.
9/ 3. Cousin Sam'l Mickle Jr. and wife Rachel gave
us a visit thence to his fathers.
Engrossed my will.
9/ 4. Visited ye P. M. by Nathan Burnett and wife
Rachel daughter of cousin Sam'l Mickle Jr.
who T'd.
9/ 7. Cousin Sam'l Mickle Jr. and wife left us ye A.
M. on their way homeward about 45 miles
from Phila said S. Mickle born 12 mo. 4-
1780.
9/13. At a fire in Woodbury ye roof of Jos. Saunders
Blacksmith shop formerly Isaac Ballengers
part burned off.
9/23. Heard Sam'l Richards brother of Sarah Saun-
ders dec'd in his 66th year. Also John Lan-
casters wife Hannah dec'd about 2 weeks
since.
9/25. Was ye P. M. at Capt. Benj. F. Baches to which
place my stove was now removed from my
lot No. 4 and but 6 joints of pipe including
the elbow.
Mentions Deptford school house yard : "the desolate
forlorn deserted house affected me sorrowfully. I some
years ago never expected to see it in such a deplorable con-
dition."
io/ 5. Two of the daughters of Nathan Bassett viz.
Elizabeth and Beulah being home on a visit
say their mother Sarah deceased 9 mo. 15
1826 aged nearly 56 years.
N. B. She was the daughter of John Saunders
dec'd.
NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 249
1827.
io/ 8. Doctress black Rhoda Mann belaboured my rheu-
matic right shoulder and arm.
10/10. Election yesterday at Squancum and today at
Woodbury and I gave my vote ye P. M. for
such candidates in council and assembly as I
judged were not favorable to General Andrew
Jacksons being promoted to the Presidency
of the U. S. next year.
10/10. Richard Wells married Ann M. Laycock.
10/25. J no - V. Clark of Paulsboro dec'd the 22d inst.
11/25. Elizabeth and Lydia Reeve daughters of Peter
Reeve dec'd and Sarah Stephens daughter of
Isaac Stephens tutoress in ye dwelling house
of Josiah Tatum and Mary and Ann Cooper
daughters of Cous. Wm. Cooper in Co. at
John Tatums.
11/27. With Michael Carpenter and Brother Sam'l this
A. M.
I2/ 2. Benj. Sheppard and wife Mary and child Letitia
Miller Sheppard aged 8 weeks this day.
(Letitia being ye name of my mother) called
about io A. M.
12/12. Moses Watson who come to live with me in
1783 now resides about 2 miles distant from
Haddonfield says he was born 5 mo 1 1 1 772.
12/13. J no - Comly seceeder preacher appeared in lengthy
discourse.
12/20. Benj Dunham residing about 8 miles beyond
Carpenters landing will deliver 40 m. plaster-
ing in about 2 weeks at $2.25 per M.
1828
I/ I. Ann wife of Henry Roe dec'd last night aged
67-2-27.
1/7. In P. M. at fire Co. meeting and Fire Assn meet-
ing being ye ist fire association meeting since
16
250 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1828.
said association was incorporated. Appoint-
ing officers etc of ye association.
1/26. Cousin Josiah Tatum with a petition or remon-
strance against opening of ye navigation of
Woodbury Creek. In or about 1754 (1764
over 1754) a dam was erected and navigation
stopped about which this neighborhood was
in a great ferment on the said occasion.
Much about seceders and separatists at this period
of his diary.
2/ 5. Dr. Jer. J. Fosters wife dec'd this morning.
3/ 2. Cousin Esther wife of Wm. Miller dec'd yester-
day aged 50-4-4.
3/ 6. A seceder wedding at meeting today viz. Sam'l
Ogden and Martha daughter of Sam'l B.
Lippincott Orthodox Friends withdrew.
3/27. Chas. Hopkins and Lucy Hugg married today.
4/26. In ye Friend of this date is an acct of decease of
Pattison Hartshorn aged 84 years with whom
under ye firm name of Hartshorn & Large I
when following store keeping used to deal
for dry goods. Also an acct of decease of
John Morton in ye 8o,th year of his age.
6/ 2. Biddle Reeves dec'd this P. M. aged 61-7-28 born
10 mo 4-1766 interred in family burying
ground.
6/16. Keturah 2nd wife of James Matlack, and sister
of his first wife Elizabeth, deceased she being
from home on a visit to her sister ye widow
of John Kelly. Buried in Presby. B. ground.
8/19. Executed deed for Susanna Sin grandmother of
Thos. Schumo.
8/26. Sarah wife of Amos Peaslee dec'd about 5th day
morning. Her husband in ye state of Ohio.
9/ 3- Joseph V. Clark and David Whitall's wife Ann
deceased.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 251
1828.
9/10. Sarah Wood widow of Jas. Wood dec'd this
morning aged 70-3-6.
9/12. My birthday commencing my 83 yr.
Mary Caldwell daughter of James B. Caldwell
deceased this day.
9/20. A meeting today at ye Court House for ye pur-
pose of forming a Society to be called A
Moral Society I suppose chiefly designed to
discourage horse racing. A race ground of
a mile in circumference being made near
Swedesboro as I was this day informed.
9/24. Lydia Brown daughter of Jonathan dec'd aged
30-10-29.
9/26. In Phila. Cousin Geo. Fox deceased about 10
days ago aged 69 years.
10/11. Big tavern near Court House sold at my suit to
Peter Rambo.
10/18. Sarah Cresson and Sarah Folwell dr of Wm.
Folwell arrived from Phila in stage and
lodged.
Complains often of inability to hear.
Mahlon Skill and Elizabeth Dawson married.
10/19. Deborah Cooper daughter of Wm. and grand
daughter of Benj. Cooper interred at Wood-
bury.
10/22. Job. Coles deceased at Mt. Holly on 9th inst 80
yrs. old according to Herald.
1 1/ 2. Read Dr. Sam'l Emlens Jr. diary in Friend Vol.
2. ( S. M. was one of the original subscribers
to the Friend. F. H. S.)-
11/17. Hannah daughter of Josiah Stokes deceased at
Howard Abbots aged 17-6-20 buried from
her fathers house.
11/22. Howard Abbott deceased last night. (He in-
variably gives the cause of death. F. H. S.).
11/28. Mary Wescott deceased yesterday 27th in 72
year of her age.
252 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
1828.
I2/ 2. Jno. Ladd Howell buried Friend B. grd.
1829
i/ 2. A large congregation (said to be) to hear Elias
Hicks hold forth.
i/ 6. Champion Atkinsons wife dec'd.
2/ 2. Mary daughter of Cous. Jno. and Ann Mickle
dec'd age i-4-8d.
2/1 1. Barzilla Jeffries, Peter Townsend, Mary wife
of Jos. Brown and Elizabeth Reeve lodge.
2/19. Hope Stokes wife of Josiah dec'd age 57-1-9.
3/ 5. Wm. Paul and Mary Ann daughter of Thos.
Thorn married today at Hicksite Upper
Greenwich.
2/25. Sam'l Wilkins moving from Haddonfield to
Woodbury to ye tavern lately occupied by
Jno. Dunham.
4/20. Elizabeth Mickle going with Wm. Armstrong
and wife and Hester Jones to Ohio to see her
sister Hannah wife of Charles Stratton.
4/22. Herald says deceased on 4th inst. Timothy Mat-
lack in his 99th year.
5/15. Cousin Sophia 2nd wife of Cousin Sam'l Mickle
deceased 3rd day last I2th inst. aged 76-3-11.
5/27. Herald says dec'd on 22 Sam'l Wood, Esq.
6/ 4. Great noise by militia parading down and up
street.
6/ 5. Mary Ann wife of Tilly Brown died at her
fathers Ephm. Millers aged 31.
6/ 8. Francis Howell wife of Benj. Howell at her
mothers Ann Howell died in 38th year.
Rebecca Powell of Phila maiden name Milnor
grandmother of Thos. Schumo's wife up-
wards of 50 years an undertaker in Phila
visited me.
6/1 1. Heard Sam'l Carpenter of Phila deceased.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 253
1829.
6/26. On looking over our grave yard fence toward ye
grave of my beloved wife brought to my mind
what she told me that as she and Amy Hun-
ter were riding past the Presbyterian Burial
ground in which Andrew Hunter's wife Ann
lay interred "Ah Nancy you lay quietly there
while I am racked with anxiety for your chil-
dren" which caused ye following soliloquy
Ah my beloved wife thou lays quietly there
while I am racked with pain and indisposi-
tions.
6/29. Stubbed his toe and dropped ink stand and ink.
7/ 3- Juliann wife of Jno. Moore White deceased this
morning.
7/ 4. Sam'l Hopper in his iyth year son of Wm.
Hopper dec'd and apprenticed to a silver
smith in Phila called to see me.
7/1 1. Ann wife of Richard French of Ohio 2 miles
from Chas. Stratton stopped on her way to
Salem, N. J. her native place.
7/13. F. Davenport on his way by stage to Camden
to take steam boat to Trenton to attend to my
chancery business there.
7/14. Geo. Wards daughter Edith deceased last night.
7/19. On my way to sil't meet'g stopped short time at
James Saunders, his wife poorly and not at
meeting. Rainy between 3 and 5. No thun-
der.
This is the last entry in the wonderful diary of
Sam'l Mickle. A strong unshaking hand straight and
clear, despite all the infirmities he mentions and the medi-
cal concoctions he took and the physical falls off chairs,
down stairs, etc., Sam'l was a wonderfully clever old
Quaker. Liberal and honorable, faithful and true, active
and industrious, may his weary bones and restless spirit
have the peace he craved while on this twirling globe.
F.H. S.July 25, 1917.
ANCIENT TREE AT GLOUCESTER
The West Jersey Proprietors for the County of Gloucester have
met annually on this spot since 1688, when the Council of
Proprietors of West Jersey was organized.
This tree is standing: (1917) on the river bank about 50 feet south
of the foot of Market Street.
KETCH BV FRANK H. TAYLOR 1017
Job Whitall's Diary*
Job Whitall, son of James and Ann Cooper Whitall, was born
I mo. -27-1743, and died 9 mo.-i 1-1797.
Job Whitall was a son of James and Ann Cooper
Whitall, who lived in the old brick mansion still stand-
ing near the Red Bank monument visited by our Society
last June. His diary, now in possession of Louis W.
Whitall, contains a great deal more of interest than is
mentioned here, especially genealogical data, and is
another example of history that has never been copi-
ously copied or published.
Job had the patience of Job of Old and the extracts
made here from his diary certainly fail to show the
slightest exasperation at the confiscation of his things by
British and Continental soldiers alike. Harassment from
all quarters was his portion, and while he ignores the
famous battle of Red Bank he throws a great deal of
light on the doings of the soldiers and the military con-
ditions prevalent in Old Gloucester in 1776-7.
On Feby. 7, 1776, he received of Joseph Whitall one
hundred Continental dollar bills.
Feby. 24 he mentions that The people began to
muster this day.
May 6. The alarm guns were fired betwixt twelve
and one of the clock which occasioned great commotion
amongst some of the people.
On May 8th he heard a cannonading with the row
gallies and a man of war or two which lasted three
hours or better. The people getting in arms as fast as
possible. The next day he heard the cannon firing the
most of the afternoon and evening.
Oct. 8th. Brother John Whitall and Thomas Saun-
ders set off for New York to see Brother Benjamin
Whitall at ye Camp.
*By FRANK H. STEWART.
256 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
Benj. Whitall made application to Committee of
Safety Jan. 10, 1776, for a command in Col. Maxwell's
regiment. Benjamin Whitall was a Second Lieutenant
in Artillery Co. formed March 2, 1776. He was subse-
quently promoted to be a First Lieutenant and later Cap-
tain Lieutenant.
Oct. 1 8th. He gave Barbara Down four dollars
that brother John Whitall brought from Charles Spen-
cer at ye Camp.
Nov. 29. He records: Bob Taylor came here to
strain our goods and because he could not go all over
our house he got in a passion and went away without
anything, he threatening to fetch a file of musketeers to
scare us I suppose.
Dec. 10. I got a good deal of pork of ye market
people, they being scart and turned back by accounts that
ye English soldiers were coming to Philadelphia or near
it. I paid them all. On Dec. 14 he went to the Phila-
delphia Market and got to Austins ferry (Arch St.) be-
fore daylight and sold his marketing when market open-
ed.
Jan'y 2Oth, 1777. Thomas Denny and John Sparks
sent for cousin Thomas Redman and committed him to
gaol, but he had his liberty to go home and come next
morning, which he did.
Jan'y 21. Squires sent for Cousin Mark Miller
again and I went to see how it went. They wrote his
mittimus and ordered Ellick Mitchell to take him to
gaol but Ellick gave him liberty to stay to dinner and
when over he took Cousin Thos. Redman and Mark
Miller to gaol.
April 1 6, 1777. Went down to Father Whitalls to
make a haul with his seine but there being three or four
hundred soldiers there we thought not to fish but we
made one haul and caught one shad and two or three
other fish.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 257
April 19. Some of the soldiers went away and
more came this day.
Aug. 8. A number of ye militia came in to Wood-
bury and took possession of our meeting house.
Aug. 15. Ye soldiers came back this day and went
into our meeting house again.
Aug. 1 6. While I was at Fathers, John Porch ye
Constable came there and demanded a fine from Brother
John Whitall, and* I had an opportunity to see what
mine was. There were two against me, one fine was
S D
126
Costs 2 6
Ye other fine i o o
Costs 2 6
And against my man John were two more, one
17 6
Costs 2 6
Ye other 15 o
Costs 2 6
S D
Ye whole 450
Aug. 19. Jehu Ward came here in a passion and
demanded me to go over to brick house tavern before
Sparks and Denny or I should be sent for by ye author-
ity. After a little pause I went over to the Squires and
they not being in Jehu and I walked into a private room
and by having some conversation his passion begun to
cool and he concluded to go no further in it and he
seemed to be very friendly when we parted.
Sept. 2, 1777. I went to Gloucester Gaol to see
Thomas Edgerton whom Sparks had put in for not
taking ye test.
Sept. 5. Militia had their discharge this morning
and ye bigger number went home. A number of girls
went to washing and cleaning ye meeting house.
258 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
Sept. 13. Ye Militia had filled our meeting house
and school here and several other houses ye fore part of
week.
Sept. 20. Jehu Wood drest a number of horses
and wagons today.
Oct. 2. Capt. Sam'l Hugg had our wagon for am-
munition. Ye Militia took our light covered wagon
without leave and have not returned it.
Oct. 6. While I was at fathers Capt. Jos. Blewer
took my little brown mare without leave to ride up to
Washington's Camp, as he said.
From Oct. /th to the 22nd he was busy moving
furniture, produce and stock first to his father's place, and
thence again to his Uncle David Cooper's, at Woodbury.
On the loth he writes : "The Militia turned us out of our
kitchen ye largest room upstairs and the shop and took
our hay to feed their horses."
On the 1 2th Capt. John Blewer brought his brown
mare home and on the I7th he got his wagon back, which
he loaded with a chest full of clothes, a tub full of china
and crockery, a half barrel of wine; another tub full of
pewter and one walnut box, and sent the lot to his uncle
David Cooper's.
On the 2ist he took another load of goods away.
On the 22nd of October, the day of the battle of
Red Bank, he says: "Ye Boys and myself hung a gate
in ye meadow and John and I went to finish ye stacks
(hay) and our women bio wed ye horn and we went
home and got our horses and wagon and loaded it with
goods. Ye reason was because ye English troops were
close by. We ate -some dinner and my wife, children
and myself went off in our wagon. Father, mother and
ye boys stayed. We got to Uncle David Coopers and
stayed awhile and I went back again on horse back.
Uncle David and James Cooper each sent a boy down
to fathers to help me away with some cattle. I went
over the Dam to fathers and got ye boys and we drove
NOTES ON OivD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 259
away 21 head, 8 fat, 4 cows, one pair oxen, 3 steers, I
heifer and 3 calves to Uncle David Cooper and stayed
all night. This same day ye people in ye Fort drove
from Father and me 47 sheep into ye fort."
This record showing- that his mother, Ann Cooper
Whitall, did not leave the farm after dinner on the day
of the famous battle should forever kill the suspicion
created by certain writers that she was not at home
during the battle, and therefore could not have been en-
gaged in knitting or spinning when the cannon ball went
through one end of her home.
Oct. 23. The day after the battle, which is not men-
tioned by Friend Whitall, he records: "The Americans
had filled the kitchen, shop, big room, the long room up-
stairs and two other rooms down stairs which forced
us to move out." The next day he got several teams
and loaded them with his fathers goods and took them
to Woodbury to John Murdocks.
Oct. 25. He and his wife took his mother down
and were loading goods when the soldiers took his mare
out of harness by order of Col. Greene. This prevented
the removal of the goods and he locked four rooms filled
with articles. The following day he brought away his
father's hogs and sheep, also Joseph Low's. Four out of
37 were missing.
On the 27th he went to his father's house and found
the soldiers had broken open three of the doors. He
got six more sheep and one pig.
On the 2gth he got a few of the- potatoes the sol-
diers had left and found the other door forced and the
things chiefly gone out of it. This day he got his
brown mare back. On the 3ist the soldiers took a
young mare colt away out of the meadow. At this time
he sent a valuable horse down to Salem to his Uncle
Richard Wood's.
On Nov. 4, while several teams were hauling, the
soldiers took a yoke of oxen and his sorrel horse away.
260 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
Nov. 7. He went to Woodbury meeting and the
soldiers had made a hospital of the meeting house, and
a meeting was held out of doors and when over a Prepar-
ative meeting was held in Mark Miller's house. He
said it was a matter of satisfaction and comfort to him.
On the Qth another meeting was held out of doors.
On his return home the soldiers had stolen two of his
pigs in the night. His Uncle David Cooper while on
the way to meeting saw two soldiers, one of whom had
a pig. He shouted to them and they dropped the pig
and ran as fast as they could through the corn. This
would make a good subject for some artist.
Nov. 1 8. The sick soldiers were all ordered away.
Nov. 21. I stayed at home on account of ye
English soldiers coming here today. They took two
mares from me, one sorrel horse out of the stable, the
other out of the lot, a brown mare, both with foal, and
while ye army was passing they came in and took our
bread, pie, milk, cheese, meat dishes, cups, spoons and
then took shirts, sheets, blankets, coverleds, stockings,
breeches and drove our cattle out of ye brick shed and
they all came back but one big brown ox that we worked
while here. They broke open two doors and ransacked
ye house all over but ye cellar.
Nov. 22. He stayed at home all day. The soldiers
took one of his pigs and cut and hacked several others
with their swords. We were pretty peaceable this day
only came and got some potatoes and milk. There was
a great number of soldiers who went by this day and
while passing they took off my gears with them.
On the 23rd he went to Uncle David Cooper's and
found the soldiers had been there and broken open many
doors and two drawers in his desk. Took nearly a whole
barrel of sugar leaving only a few pounds and also took
ten sheep of his father's and Joseph Low's. Towards
night he went home and some soldiers were there taking
as much hay as two horses could carry strung on each
side with ropes.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 261
Nov. 24. Ye English soldiers all moved off this
morning and left Woodbury. I walked to where they
had their camp and we found our big kettle but not our
little pot. Found ye brown oxes hide belonging to
father that they had killed, and took it to Aaron Hews
for him to tan for me. It weighed 50 Ibs. Father found
a Windsor chair in the woods. I walked to Woodbury
to see my friends and the soldiers had stolen out of our
smoke house in Woodbury 4 or 5 flitches of bacon. They
had taken over a thousand feet of i% inch boards and
2 or 3 thousand barrel staves.
Nov. 25. Sailors came ashore and took Brother
James' hogs.
Nov. 30. Went to Woodbury meeting for the first
time since the soldiers had left it.
Dec. 15. Went to Red Bank to spread Flax that
ye soldiers had made tents of. It was very much
tangled.
Spelling of Family Names
It is a curious fact that many of the first settlers
would not recognize their names as now spelled by their
grandchildren's grandchildren.
Covenover is now Conover.
Van Immen is now Vanneman.
Maffet is now Moffett.
Eslick is now Eastlack.
Pronunciation has had a great deal to do with the
changes in spelling. In Salem Co., where I was born,
the Steward family was a large one and there was no
trouble with my name. When I went to Philadelphia
everybody called me Stewart, and I, boy-like, thought it
would be all right to make the spelling conform to the
practice. When I started in business for myself I did
262 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
not have the courage to correct the error on my business
stationery. It is now necessary for me to go along
under a slight alias, using a t at the end of my name
instead of a d, as was used by my ancestors as far back
as I have been able to trace them. I also adopted the
middle letter H. to distinguish myself from others of the
same name.
FRANK H. STEWART.
First Quakers in Old Gloucester
Thomas Sharp wrote in the Haddonfield Friends
Meeting records a short account of the settlement of
Newton Township in Old Gloucester by Irish Quakers in
1681.
His narrative has been frequently copied in various
histories.
The first settlers were William Bates, George Gold-
smith, Thomas Thackara, Mark Newby and Thomas
Sharp. They arrived at Elsinburg in Salem County,
Nov. 19, 1681, from Dublin, Ireland, which they left
Sept. 19, 1 68 1. They were entertained by the Thompsons
(John and Andrew) of Elsinburg who had left Ireland
several years before (1677). After visiting the Thomp-
son families the party went to Salem and used several
vacant houses of the first settlers of Fenwick's Colony
who had moved to their plantations in the country. A
boat was purchased from the Swansons (Swedish people)
and a trip was made to Burlington where a warrant for
land was obtained from the Surveyor General, Daniel
Leeds. After considerable search the party selected New-
ton and in the beginning of the spring of 1682 the party,
with Robert Zane, another Irish Quaker of Salem, re-
moved from there to Newton, where a Meeting was estab-
lished in the home of Mark Newby who soon became one
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 263
of the most prominent men of West New Jersey; a little
later the house of William Cooper of Pyne Point was
also used as a Friends Meeting House.
The Indians proved loving and kind, contrary to ex-
pectations. He finishes the sketch with "This narrative
I have thought good and requisite to leave behind as hav-
ing had knowledge of the things from the beginning."
We are very much indebted to him.
The first birth recorded was Constantine Wood, son
of John and Alice Wood, of Woodbury Creek, born 24th
7 mo, 1683, probably as the entry claims the first child
born of English parents about the neighborhood of the
creek.
The first marriage recorded was that of John Ladd
to Sarah Wood at a public meeting at the house of James
Atkinson, I3th 10 mo. 1685.
FRANK H. STEWART.
GRAVE YARD AND END VIEW OF MORAVIAN CHURCH.
FROM PHOTO BY I. W. HUMPHREYS
Ancient Burial Places in Gloucester County*
The oldest of the burial places established by the
early colonists of Gloucester County is that at Swedes-
boro, now known as Trinity Churchf Burying-Ground.
Swedesboro was first settled by the Swedes, probably as
early as 1638, and although the written records of the
church do not begin until 1702, it is quite likely that the
present site of the church and the adjoining burying-
ground is one originally selected for the purpose.
It is situated on a bluff at the intersection of the
Raccoon creek and the King's Highway, and is enclosed
by a well-kept stone wall. With the beautiful colonial
church, built in 1784, in the background, the effect as
one approaches the town is quaint and picturesque, remind-
ing the traveler of an English village.
In this yard lie buried hundreds of the pioneers of
Swedesboro. Although the yard is quite large, it was
evidently soon filled with graves, for in the early part of
the last century another burial-ground was established
about two squares to the west, which is known as the
New Cemetery. The latter ground is enclosed with a
stone wall, and both wall and grounds are kept in excel-
lent condition by the church.
There was another Swedish settlement at Repaapo,
which possibly antedated that at Swedesboro by a short
time ; but the site of Repaapo is not known, although the
name still survives in a locality near the river which is
to-day known as Repaupo.
The next oldest burial place in the county is probably
the Wood burying-ground, on the south side of Woodbury
creek, near its mouth. Richard Wood is said to have
* By Louis B. MOFFETT.
t Copies of Vital Statistical records of Trinity Church are at the Genea-
logical Society of Pennsylvania.
17
266 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
settled at this place in 1681. Other members of his family
followed and within a few years the huts of settlers were
scattered here and there throughout that section of the
county. A graveyard was laid out and was probably used
by the entire community until the establishment of the
Friends meeting in Woodbury, about two miles away, in
1715. It has been used by descendants of the Wood
family within the memory of persons now living. The
earlier graves were marked by rude field stones, most of
which have disappeared. There is one, however, which
bears the initials R. W. and this may be that of the foun-
der of the colony. Other stones bear the names of Wil-
kins, Hillman, Peter Crimm, and, of course, Wood.
It is said that between 1840 and 1845 there was a
freshet which washed away a portion of the graveyard,
dislodging a number of bodies and carrying them away.
Although the Gloucester County Historical Society has
erected a memorial stone with an appropriate inscription,
the cemetery is in danger of disappearing. Boathouses
occupy the banks of the creek, and the cemetery is almost
a public thorofare. The ground is gradually filling in
and some of the stones are covered half-way up. It is
quite possible that within a few years all traces of it will
have been obliterated.
The Friends erected a meeting house in Woodbury
in 1715 and the adjoining burial-ground was probably
established at the same time. It contains the grave of
Ann Whitall, the heroine of the battle of Red Bank. It
is said that a part of the ground has been filled in three
times and each time used again for burial purposes. The
meeting house and cemetery occupy the most commanding
spot in Woodbury and form one of the attractive features
of the beautiful and historic town.
The Presbyterian burying-ground in North Wood-
bury dates back to 1721, at which time the ground was
obtained, the church built and the graveyard established.
The first church was of logs and was replaced by another
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 267
building when the congregation grew larger. The church
building was ordered to be sold in 1803 and in 1833 the
congregation built a commodious building about a mile
south, on the site occupied by the present church building.
The old yard continued to be used for burial purposes for
many years, but now only an occasional interment is
there made. The yard is in a deplorable condition and
no attempt is made to keep it up. Mrs. Ann Hunter, the
wife of Rev. Andrew Hunter, is buried there. She had
so endeared herself to the people that they all sought to
do her honor at her funeral. Samuel Mickle, however,
in his diary, which is reproduced in this volume, deplored
the pomp and ceremony with which she was buried.
The stones remaining in the yard represent the Roe,
Cozens, Clark, Moffett and other prominent local families.
Samuel Mickle, in his diary, under date of Nov. IO,
1802, records that he laid off a family burial-ground on
part of Benjamin Hopper's* land. The writer has been
unable to locate this.
Many of the settlers had their own private burial-
grounds on their plantations. The roads were poor,
transportation was difficult, and they preferred having
their dead in a place convenient of access rather than in
the church cemeteries, which were difficult to reach and
not particularly well-kept. Many of these private bury-
ing-grounds are still in existence and some are even used
to this day; but others have been entirely lost track of.
The most attractive of these private burying-grounds
in Gloucester County is the Reeves burying-ground, locat-
ed on the old Reeves plantation about a mile south of
Woodbury, between the West Jersey and Seashore Rail-
road and Mantua Pike. The farm is now owned by
Clement R. Budd.
This cemetery was established by Joseph Reeves, who
was born in 1700 and died in 1780. The stone marking
There was a Hopper burial-ground adjoining Friends ground. (F. H. S.).
268 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
his grave is in excellent condition. The plot is enclosed by
a stone wall with two pairs of heavy iron gates, and is
surrounded by a number of noble old trees. It is a very
attractive spot, and the manner in which it is cared for
reflects credit upon the descendants of its founder, some
of whom are members of the New Jersey Society of
Pennsylvania. It is still used for burying purposes, the
most recent interment being that of the wife of Rev.
Herbert Burk. Her grave is marked by an Irish cross,
which is one of the most beautiful mortuary emblems in
the county. The stones in the yard represent the Reeves,
Moffett, Snow, Saunders and other allied families.
Further down the Mantua road is the old Chew
Cemetery, located on Mantua Creek, about a quarter of a
mile west of the road. The cemetery contains stones rep-
resenting four generations of the Chew family, including
the first settler, Nathaniel Chew, and his wife Mary; his
son Jeffrey, who became one of the largest land owners
in that locality, and his wife Ann; David Chew, the son
of Jeffrey, and his wife Hannah; and Stille Chew, son
of David, and his wife Rebecca M. David Eldridge, who
died June 18, 1823, age 89, is buried here; also his first
wife, Sarah Chew, and his second wife, Rebecca Moffett.
David Eldridge was one of the best-known men in Glou-
cester County and was the ancestor of several members
of the New Jersey Society of Pennsylvania.
There are also numerous graves marked only by rude
stones and there is a tradition that a number of victims
of an epidemic of cholera are there interred. One of the
descendants of the Chew family recently erected a very
substantial enclosure for the cemetery, consisting of gran-
ite posts with iron rails between.
On the east side of the Mantua road, just before it
crosses Mantua creek, lies the plantation formerly owned
by Samuel Maffet and his wife Rachel. Samuel Maffet,
in 1763, sold this farm to Jeffrey Chew, but reserved "A
privilege on 20 feet square of land to the said Samuel
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 269
Maffet, to inter and bury his friends at the place where his
two sons are now buried, adjoining on the line between
the tract herein mentioned and other land of the said
Jeffrey Chew." This item in the deed throws some light
upon the customs of the early settlers, for it will be ob-
served that Samuel Maffet hospitably allowed his friends
to find a last resting place upon his land.
This plantation descended to Samuel Chew, grand-
son of Jeffrey Chew, and is now owned by a Mr. Redrow.
The graveyard has long since disappeared and no one to-
day knows even its approximate site.
On the road from Mantua to Sewell, near the bridge
over the tracks of the West Jersey R. R., lies another
Chew cemetery. This cemetery contains the remains of
Jesse Chew, minister of the Gospel, who died in 1812, age
74 years. There is also a stone for his wife Mary, and
for several of their descendants, representing the East-
lack, Carpenter and Earley families.
The Driver cemetery is located in the village of
Barnsboro. It was established by Samuel Driver, one of
the earliest settlers in that locality, who was a member of
the Woodbury Friends' Meeting. It is enclosed by a
stone wall, part of which has lately fallen down, and con-
tains a number of gravestones of the Driver family.
On the old road which winds through the country
from Barnsboro to Mickleton, a road which is to-day but
little used, lies what is left of the Jessup cemetery, on the
brow of a hill near the old Jessup homestead, about a mile
from Barnsboro. The farm is now owned by Harry
Lafferty. This yard was formerly surrounded by a good
stone wall, but about two generations ago this wall was
dismantled by the owner and the larger part of the yard
is now under cultivation. There are but three stones re-
maining: John West, son of Richard and Rachel West,
died August 14, 1798, age 63; Sarah West, died August
13, 1826, age 70 years; and Mary Jones died May 25,
1789, age 21.
270 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
About one-half mile south of the Jessup graveyard
on the other side of the road is the old West burying-
ground, on the farm now occupied by a Mr. Sharp. This
ground is on the brow of a hill forming part of a meadow
and is without enclosure of any kind. The stones now
standing are those of Job West, died March 4, 1800, age
30 years ; Isaiah West, died June 21, 181 1, age 39 ; Sarah,
wife of Michael Hess, died October 8, 1774, age 28. The
cows ramble freely over the place and it is quite probable
that in a few years these stones will be broken and will
disappear.
On the road which leads from Pitman to Jefferson,
about one mile east of Jefferson, is the Tomlin cemetery.
The farm on which it is located is owned by William Duf-
field. This cemetery is enclosed with a brick wall, which
was originally very good, but is now beginning to fall
apart. The plot is overgrown with briers, underbrush
and young trees, and is almost impenetrable except in
winter.
In North Woodbury, on the opposite side of the
old King's Highway from the Presbyterian cemetery
and about two squares south of it, lies what is left of the
old Ward burying-ground. There are but two stones
remaining in this ground: Benjamin Ward, born Feb-
ruary 8, 1733, died February 22, 1795; Hannah Ward,
died Oct. 30, 1802, age 35 years and 4 months. This
land is restricted for use only as a cemetery and since
the present owners do not care to spend any money
upon it, it is used as a dumping ground and a play-
ground, and it is really remarkable that the two stones
that remain standing are in such good condition. A
toll gate at one time stood upon the front part of the
cemetery lot.
The old Methodist Cemetery in Woodbury now
forms a part of the Green Cemetery and is located on
the old Egg Harbor road just east of Evergreen Avenue.
NOTES ON OivD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 271
About a half mile farther out the road on the same
side is a farm now owned by Doctor Ralph J. Iszard,
formerly the Nathan Ward place. There is an old
graveyard on the lane leading to the house, but only a
few unlettered field stones remain, two of which are im-
bedded in the roots of a tree. The ground is about 50
feet square, and, while not enclosed, it is held sacred and
is not used for any other purpose. The dwelling house
on the farm is a well-built brick structure, bearing on
the gable the inscription "N. A. W. 1791."
On the road from Woodbury to Almonesson, at the
point where it crosses the stone road which leads from
Westville to Glassboro, lies a farm now owned by Dr.
Brewer, of Woodbury. In the center of a field bounded
by these two roads lies an old cemetery, the original
owner of which is not known. It contains a number
of stones representing the Perce or Pierce family and is
spoken of as a Pierce burying-ground. Some veterans
of the Civil War are buried there, and their graves are
remembered each memorial day by their comrades of the
G. A. R.
There was a cemetery adjoining Christ Episcopal
Church, in Woodbury, until a few years ago, when the
bodies were removed. The ground is now partly occu-
pied by the parish house.
The Strangers Burying-Ground, which was for
more than a century one of the landmarks of Woodbury,
occupied about an acre of ground on the south side of
Cooper Street west of Broad. In this cemetery many of
the Hessians killed at Red Bank were buried. Buttons of
uniforms and bayonets were found when the cemetery was
vacated. It was condemned about two years ago, and a
new street known as Lupton Avenue marks the site. The
bodies and remaining stones were removed to the Paupers'
Burying-Ground, which is located on the old road, now
little used, leading from a point near Almonesson to North
Woodbury.
272 NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
Farther along this road and about a quarter of a
mile nearer Woodbury is the Cattell cemetery, founded
by the ancestors of the numerous families of that name.
It was used to some extent by members of the Cattell
family until quite recently. Jonas Cattell, famous as the
guide of the Gloucester Fox Hunting Club, is said to be
buried there.
Back in the region of sand and pine trees between
Almonesson and a point on the stone road known as
New Sharon, lies the old Walton place. The old ceme-
tery on this place is located on a hill about 30 feet high
which slopes down to a small stream. The hill is cover-
ed with noble oak trees and the spot is peaceful and
quiet. But a few field stones remain to mark the graves,
two of which are rudely lettered, one "J. W." and the
other "M. W." The farm was lately occupied by
Azariah Eastlack, who left it to the Presbyterian Church
at Blackwood. It is now owned by J. B. Vanneman.
On the road leading from Bethel to Clement's
Bridge, just north of its intersection with the road
which leads from Almonesson to Blackwood, is the
Perce cemetery. This cemetery is enclosed with a very
substantial stone wall and is used to this day by the de-
scendants of the family. The inscriptions on the stones
represent the Perce, Montgomery, Best and Brewer
families.
About a mile to the north of the Perce cemetery,
on the same side of the road, is the Jaggard cemetery,
now used as a burying-ground by residents of Almones-
son. The ground is well kept.
The Crown Point road leading from Westville to
Gibbstown, passing through Thorofare and Paulsboro,
was originally one of the main roads of the county and
the farms through which it runs were occupied by well-
to-do planters. Quite a number of private burying-
grounds are located on farms along this road.
In a paper read before the Gloucester County His-
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 273
torical Society, in 1906, Mr. Ezekiel L. Cloud states that
there was a bury ing-ground on the northeast corner of
Delaware Street and Crown Point Road, known as the
Pierce graveyard. The stones have been used for pav-
ing and doorsteps and the ground has been ploughed
over, so that all traces of it have disappeared.
The Stephens cemetery is located about a mile north
of Paulsboro on the farm of Richard B. Davis. Through
the briers and sumac the names of Stephens, Ward and
Shuster may be seen on some of the tombstones. The
yard is still used for burial purposes, three burials hav-
ing been made there within recent years. This farm was
probably part of the plantation owned and occupied by
the famous Tench Francis.
At Mantua Point on the Delaware River, on a site
now occupied by the I. P. Thomas & Sons Co. phos-
phate works, was the Paul burial-ground. The bodies
in this cemetery were removed in about 1880 to the
Methodist Episcopal Cemetery in Paulsboro, and the
ground is now used for commercial purposes.
The Lodge cemetery stood on the Lodge farm on
the banks of the Delaware River, near the village of
Billingsport. This farm now forms part of the plant of
the Vacuum Oil Company, and in 1917 the bodies and
tombstones were removed to Eglington cemetery, in
Clarksboro, N. J.
There is an interesting bit of tradition connected with
the Methodist Episcopal Cemetery in the town of Pauls-
boro. The ground was owned by Samuel P. Paul and
was at the time of his death, in 1831, covered with a
beautiful growth of rye. Mr. Paul on his death-bed re-
quested that he be buried in his ryefield and his wishes
were carried out. Later his heirs presented the ground
to the Church for use as a cemetery.
At the southern end of Paulsboro, at the junction of
the Main street with the road leading to Swedesboro,
stands a farm formerly occupied by Joseph L. Locke, prior
274 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
to whose ownership known as the John Fleming farm.
There was quite an extensive graveyard on this farm,
which was located along the Swedesboro road near the
present lane. No one seems to know the history of the
yard. It has been farmed over for many years and in
former years it was quite a common occurrence for a plow
to turn up a skull or some other part of a human skeleton.
The ground in that particular part of the farm is now
being used for building sand, and all traces of the former
cemetery have entirely disappeared.
About a mile farther down, on the opposite side of
the road, is a farm now occupied by Joseph Clement and
formerly owned by his grandfather, Mark Clement. On
the north side of the entrance of the lane leading to the
house is an old burying-ground, known as the Mickle
burying-ground. It is a small plot, covered with a thick
growth of young trees, but there is nothing to indicate
that it is a burying-ground except three uncut and unlet-
tered field stones, which may be found by searching
through the leaves and underbrush.
The Catnac or Catnack cemetery was located on a
farm formerly owned by E. G. Green, now owned by the
DuPonts and occupied by Turner Ashton. It was en-
closed by a substantial wall and contained several stones.
The wall was torn down years ago and, with the grave-
stones, was used as foundations for some farm buildings.
The ground is now under farm cultivation and only the
approximate site of the graveyard is known.
In the village of Gibbstown there once stood an old
Methodist meeting house, built of stone, with a graveyard
adjoining. When the building was abandoned as a
church it was converted into a barn, which was torn down
when the land, which was known as the Mullen farm, was
acquired by the DuPont interests.
The cemetery is just outside of the entrance gate to
the DuPont plant, but the stones have been entirely de-
stroyed by vandals and have disappeared. Rev. Jesse
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 275
Mullen, a local preacher, who was born about 1803 and
died about 1855, at one time owned the farm and fre-
quently preached in the church.
Farther down the road, about a mile before reaching
Bridgeport, is the old Cooper family burying-ground. It
is enclosed by a wall, but is so full of young saplings and
briars as to be almost impenetrable. Some of the bodies
have been removed to other cemeteries and no one appears
to have any interest in those which remain.
One of the most interesting spots in the county is the
ancient Moravian Church with its adjoining bury ing-
ground, on the road from Swedesboro to Sharptown, near
Oldman's Creek. The history of this church is given else-
where in this book. The gravestones bear the names of
Pierson, Vanneman, Gill, Shute, and other early settlers,
whose descendants are among the leading citizens of the
present generation.
Solomon's Graveyard is located about 100 yards
from Wolfert's station, on the Woodbury-Salem railroad,
and marks the original site of the first meeting house of
the Upper Greenwich Preparative Meeting of Friends.
The lot was granted by Solomon L,ippincott in 1740, and
a frame meeting house was built, which served its pur-
pose until the society built a new meeting house in Mickle-
ton in 1798. The graveyard continued to be used as such
by Friends long after the meeting was removed, and it is
still known as Solomon's, thus preserving the memory of
its donor. It is enclosed by a substantial stone wall. The
original meeting house no longer exists.
There were two early Methodist churches near
Swedesboro which are of considerable interest, Oak Grove
and Ebenezer. Oak Grove is about one and one-half miles
from Swedesboro, on the road to Bridgeport. The church
is still standing and is familiarly known as the "old
stone church." The adjoining graveyard is enclosed by a
stone wall, and contains a number of graves with a few
headstones remaining.
276 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
Ebenezer churchyard is a half mile north of the stone
road leading from Swedesboro to Auburn, on the last
cross-road before reaching Oldman's creek. The church,
which was a frame structure, is no longer there, but the
cemetery is enclosed by a brick wall which is falling into
decay. The names appearing on the stones are Jackson,
Kimble, Guest, Hurff and Titus.
The old Cozens burying-ground lies on a farm located
on a road leading from Eastlack's corners near Mantua,
past Jessup's mill to a point on the road leading from
Clarksboro to Jefferson. The cemetery is located on the
top of a cone shaped hill which seems very much like an
Indian mound. It slopes down on one side to a branch
of the Mantua creek and is covered with trees, some of
which are quite large. The stones now standing are those
of Elijah Cozens and his wife Ann, and their daughter
Sarah Cozens.
Elijah Cozens was a deputy surveyor and a scrivener
and part owner of a mill near his home. He did much of
the conveyancing for that part of the county and his name
frequently appears in the public records.
There is a very interesting burying-ground at the
northern end of the town of Glassboro. Glassboro was
first settled in 1775, at which time the Stanger brothers
established there the pioneer glass-works of the county.
The Stangers and most of their employees were Germans,
and doubtless the first business which occupied their atten-
tion was the building of a house of worship. The ceme-
tery is said to be the site of the first rude church building,
and the original settlers were probably all buried within
its shadow. The gravestones of several of the Stanger
brothers are still in good condition, as is also that of their
mother, Catherine Stanger, who, according to the inscrip-
tion, died in 1800, aged 85.
The graveyard is in a neglected condition, although
the stones have not suffered as much violence at the hands
of vandals as is the case in most old cemeteries. The
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 277
remaining tombstones contain the following family
names: Stanger, Bodine, Shaffer, Swope, Focer and
Thorne.
Eglington Cemetery, in Clarksboro, has grown up
around the old private burying-ground set apart by John
Eglington, in 1776, in his last will and testament. The
original plot is still kept in its original condition and con-
tains the gravestones of Jeffrey Clark and other pioneers
of Clarksboro.
The Lippincott Cemetery is located in the grounds
of the county farm and almshouse, which was formerly
owned by Restore Lippincott, who purchased it from Wil-
liam Gerrard, one of the largest landholders among the
early settlers.
There is an abandoned cemetery about two miles
south of Swedesboro, located on the right side of the road
to Centre Square, about a half-mile west from the Swedes-
boro-Auburn road. The cemetery is on the boundary line
between the farms now owned by Charles G. Batten and
Charles Hampton. The part which is on the Batten farm
has been plowed up to a large extent, and broken pieces
of tombstones may be seen here and there. The only
inscription which can now be deciphered is as follows:
Betsy Roberts,
Died April 30, 1841
In the 69th Year of Her Age.
This stone was standing in good condition until a
very short time ago, but it now lies on the ground broken
in several pieces.
The part of the cemetery which lies on the farm of
Charles Hampton is covered with a heavy growth of
young trees, underbrush and poison ivy, and is not safe to
visit, except in winter. Members of the Dunn and Avis
families are said to be buried there, but, if there ever
were gravestones there, none remain at this time.
278 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
One of the oldest Methodist Church organizations
in the county is the Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church,
located in the village formerly called Bethel, but now
known as Hurffville. It dates back to 1770. The church
building now standing there is the third one to be erected
and used by the congregation. The adjoining cemetery is
quite extensive, and contains the graves of hundreds of
the pioneers of that part of the county. The principal
family names represented on the tombstones in the old
section of the cemetery are as follows: Chew, Dilks,
Heritage, Bee, Swope, Turner, Brown, Beckett, Hurff,
Watson, Clark, Firth, Carpenter, Prosser, Eastlack,
Porch and many others. It is said to be the site of an old
Indian burying-ground.
The Union Graveyard and United Association, in
Mantua, was founded February 13, 1804. The ground
for the cemetery was given by Martin Turner and deeded
to Richard Moffett, Moses Crane, Thomas Carpenter,
Edward Carpenter and Captain Robert Sparks, and their
successors. Mary W. Pancoast by will bequeathed $1,000
toward the building of the wall. The yard is scarcely
more than a quarter-acre in extent, and soon became com-
pletely filled. No burials have been made there of late
years. The principal family names to be found upon the
tombstones are Turner, Chew, Clark, Eldridge and Paul.
A most interesting old burying-ground is the one on
the outskirts of Blackwood known as the Walling or the
Powell burying-ground. It was included in the original
limits of Gloucester County, but is now just over the line
in Camden County. It is supposed by some historians to
mark the site of the lost town of Upton, which appears
frequently upon the early records of the county. It is
picturesquely located on a high piece of land which slopes
precipitously down to Timber Creek, and gives every ap-
pearance of having been a village or church cemetery.
There are many interesting old burying-places with-
in the present limits of Camden County, which was for-
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 279
merly a part of Gloucester County. The oldest and
most important of these is the Newton Burying-ground,
which was established ; by members of the So-
ciety of Friends, who settled on the banks of Newton
Creek in 1681. Their meetings were at first held in
the homes of the various members, but as soon as they
found it possible, they built for themselves a meeting-
house, and set aside space for a cemetery adjoining.
Thomas Sharp, who proved to be the historian of
the Society, in his account of their early settlements, says :
"In 1684, the Friends in the vicinity of Newton, desirous
of erecting a house of worship, selected a lot of land on
the bank of the middle branch of Newton Creek, contain-
ing about two acres, it being on the bounds of land of
Mark Newby and Thomas Thackara, which was laid out
for a burial-ground, and at the west end a log meeting-
house was erected." They chose the banks of the creek
for the reason that their plantations were located on the
various branches of the creek, and their only means of
communication was by water.
This burying-ground is very convenient of access,
being not more than one hundred yards from the West
Collingswood Station on the Reading Railway. The
original Newton Burying-ground, together with an ad-
ditional plot of one acre which was given for the purpose
in 1791 by James Sloan, is enclosed with a substantial
stone wall, and is the most impressive relic of the first
settlement of that section of New Jersey. Standing at
the lower edge, on the banks of the creek, one can readily
imagine that the spot had changed little in appearance
since the early days. The creek at this point is quite
wide, and the wooded hill-sides which remain suggest
the heavy forests which originally covered them. The
rough stones which marked the graves of those who
were first buried in the plot have largely disappeared,
and for many years it was not the custom of Friends to
erect tombstones of any kind. Numerous descendants
28o NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
of the early settlers, however, are there buried, and
among the well-known families whose names may be
found inscribed on the tombstones are :
Hugg, Collins, Collings, Howell, Clayton, Heritage,
Christy, Bickham, Davis, Ogden, Sloan, Ellis, Albertson,
Smiley, Jones, Thackeray, Watson, Cooper, Redfield,
White, Knight. The oldest stone in the yard appears to
be that of Mary Heritage, who died September 16, 1768,
in her i8th year.
The history of this yard appears to be but little
known to the average person, although there is no more
interesting chapter in New Jersey annals. Thanks to
Thomas Sharp, the history of the organization of the
colony has been preserved in great detail, and a later
historian, John Clement, in his "History of the First
Settlers of Newton Township," has vividly portrayed its
growth and development. The old cemetery appears
now to be going through a period of neglect. Although
the wall, as before stated, is very substantial, the opening
in it is not closed by a gate and the yard has therefore
become a playground for boys. The town of West Col-
lingswood should be proud to have such a relic as this
within its bounds, and its citizens should be glad to con-
tribute whatever may be necessary to keep it in condi-
tion and to preserve it as a memorial to the trials and
privations of the pious men who established it.
The Zane grave-yard lies within a few hundred
yards of Clement's Bridge on Timber Creek, on what is
known as the old Wartman place. The remains of
Colonel Isaiah Marple lie in this plot, and the tall stone
which marks his grave is standing in good condition.
There are but two other stones to be found Mary S.
Zane, born May 25, 1780, died October 12, 1847, an d
Samuel Zane, died January 3, 1833, aged 55 years, 10
months and 17 days. The stone of Mary S. Zane has
been shattered, and the inscription is read with difficulty.
The Inskeep burial-ground lies about one and one-
NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 281
half miles west of Marlton, on the banks of the stream
which separates Camden County from Burlington
County. It is located on the brow of a hill, and from it a
meadow slopes gently down to the stream. The plot
is about forty feet square, and is partly enclosed by a
dilapidated board fence, which does not prevent the
gentle meadow herd from seeking the grateful shade of
its cedar trees on hot summer days.
Several stones remain in excellent condition, but a
study of the inscriptions discloses the fact that no fewer
than four members of the Inskeep family died within a
period of fifteen days, two of them on the same day.
Whether they were carried off by some infectious or
contagious disease is not known to the writer; but, even
after the lapse of nearly two centuries, the sad story
told by the well-cut and well-preserved tombstones can
be visualized, and the sorrow and anguish of the sur-
viving members of the family imagined.
The inscriptions are as follows: Mary Inskeep,
daughter of John Inskeep, died Nov. 13, 1756, in her
26th year; Sarah, wife of Titz N. Leeds and daughter
of John Inskeep, died Nov. 5, 1756, in her i8th year;
William Inskeep, died Nov. 13, 1756, in his 27th year;
John Inskeep, died Oct. 30, 1756, aged 55 years; Mary
Inskeep, died September 19, 1775, aged 30 years; Sarah
Rogers, died Jan. 22, 1855, aged 81 years, 4 months;
Joseph P. Rogers (no date).
George R. Prowell, in his History of Camden
County, published in 1886, mentions a number of other
burial-places in Camden County, among which are the
following :
The Henry Wood grave-yard, on the farm lately
owned by Lemuel Horner, near the site of the Camden
City Water Works. This, of course, does not mean
the present artesian plant of the City of Camden, but
the older plant in the neighborhood of Cooper's Creek.
This yard has been abandoned for many years.
18
282 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
The Bull grave-yard, located somewhere in what is
now the City of Gloucester. Even the approximate site
of this grave-yard is not now known.
The Watson grave-yard, situated near the road
which leads from Blue Anchor to May's Landing, about
one mile south of Winslow. This was a comparatively
public place at that time, being the crossing of two In-
dian trails one going from Egg Harbor to the Dela-
ware River, and the other from Burlington County
towards Cape May. Nothing now remains to show the
spot.
The Graysbury grave-yard, located a short distance
west of the White Horse and Camden Turnpike. This
yard has entirely disappeared, and the Philadelphia and
Atlantic City Railroad now passes through it.
Woos' burial-place, about one mile south of Water-
ford, where the Indian trail crosses Clark's branch. This
was established by Sebastian Woos and his brothers,
who settled at that place prior to 1800.
The Bates grave-yard at Bates's Mill, about one
mile south of Waterford. Benjamin Bates, who was
an officer in the Revolutionary War and did much active
service, lies there ; also other members of the Bates family,
as well as of the Cole and Kellum families are buried
there.
The Hopewell grave-yard, located about two miles
south from Tansboro, in Winslow Township, on the old
Egg Harbor Road. This was probably the burial-
ground for the Friends' Meeting-house which formerly
stood there.
The cemetery at Berlin, formerly known as "Long-
a-Coming," dating back perhaps as far as 1714. The
original cemetery now forms a part of the larger ceme-
tery which adjoins it, and is kept in excellent condition.
Burden's grave-yard, on the brow of a hill, near the
point where the turnpike road from Berlin strikes the
Clementon and White Horse Road. It was probably
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 283
founded by Thomas Webster, who owned the land in
1742, and who with part of his family was buried there.
Richard Burden became the owner in 1789, and the
burial-place has since been known by his name. No
vestige of a stone or grave may now be found there.
Matlack's grave-yard, on a farm formerly owned
by Alexander Cooper, Esq., in Delaware Township, near
Glendale. Concerning this cemetery, Prowell states "it
is a small inclosed spot in a field. The fence is carefully
maintained, and it is contemplated to erect there a
marble tablet to commemorate the place and to secure it
from encroachments or neglect." The writer has not
had the opportunity to visit this spot and to ascertain
whether the laudable resolution was carried into effect.
Tomlinson's grave-yard, near Laurel Mills, in Glou-
cester Township. This was strictly a burial-place for
the Tomlinson family, and was probably established by
Joseph Tomlinson, who settled in that section as early
as 1690.
Sloan's burial-place, a neglected spot on the south
side of Irish Hill, in Union Township, a short distance
east from the Blackwood and Camden Turnpike. Prow-
ell states "this cemetery has no fence about it, and is
entirely covered with timber and underbrush." It has
probably disappeared entirely by this time.
The Mapes grave-yard, "on the turnpike road lead-
ing from Camden to Kirkwood, in Center Township."
It was established by John Mapes, and adjoins the house
in which he and his family lived. John Mapes was a
soldier in the corps of Colonel Henry Lee.
In the lower end of Old Gloucester County, now
Atlantic County, are numerous old burying-grounds, but
it is not possible in this article to give a complete list
of them. The following information regarding them
was furnished by our historian, Frank H. Stewart, of
Woodbury, and Miss Sarah A. Risley, of Pleasantville.
The burying-ground of the Mathis family is lo-
284 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
cated at Chestnut Neck, where the Revolutionary battle
was fought. Several undated and unmarked stones are
to be seen, but there are only three standing with in-
scriptions. They are John Mathis, born Dec. 23, 1753,
died October 20, 1824; Martha Mathis, wife of John,
born June 29, 1762, died April 12, 1842; Louiza Mathis,
wife of John Mathis, born October 3, 1804, died Oc-
tober 27, 1850.
Above Chestnut Neck, on the Mullica or Little Egg
Harbor River, opposite Hog Island, is a now almost in-
accessible place known as Clark's Landing. A tramp of
about one thousand feet through the woods and swamp
up the river from the landing brings one to the lonely
and desolate graves of Thomas Clark and his wife Ruth.
According to the inscription on his headstone he died
May 17, 1752, in his 63rd year. Vandals have broken
both headstones and the dates are now missing from
that of Ruth Clark. Thomas Clark was the ancestor of
a long line of distinguished men of New Jersey. At
Clarks Mills, near Port Republic, is another plot contain-
ing the remains of other members of the Clark family.
The oldest marked stone is T. C., Oct. 31, 1793, aged
71 years. Adriel, Judith, Elizabeth, Sherman, Parker,
Martha, Thos. P., Mary and Thomas Clark all have in-
scribed head-stones. This grave-yard belonged to the
former Presbyterian Church, about one mile from Port
Republic.
In the town of Port Republic, across the road in
the woods and brush from the Methodist grave-yard, is
another old grave-yard holding the remains of many
members of the old families of the neighborhood. Among
them, according to the tombstones, are Micajah Smith,
Jonas Morss and members of the Endicott and Burnett
families. The headstones are covered by a dense under-
growth.
On the Morss Mill Road (named for the pioneer
Robert Morss), about a mile west of the Shore Road at
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 285
Smithville, is the private burial ground of the Collins
family. The first interment with a date was that of
Sarah, wife of Richard Collins, who died Jan'y 12,
1 80 1, aged 65 years 6 mos. ; Richard, b. May i, 1725;
died June 17, 1808; Matthew Collins, born May 7, 1764,
died Sept. 29, 1851 ; Judith, his wife, died Oct. 27, 1822,
aged 54 years; Levi Collins, died March 24, 1813, aged
40 yrs. 6 mo. 4 da.; Richard Collins, born Oct. u, 1798,
died May 22, 1833; Sam'l G. and Daniel L. Collins and
Aseneth Sooy also have tombstones. There are many
other graves without markers and several with un-
marked stones. This yard is now well kept.
At Leeds Point is a small plot of the Leeds family.
At Absecon are two burial grounds of the well-
known Doughty family, one on John Doughty's farm
on the East side of the Shore Road, a short distance
back. The other is on or near the Pitney Road above
the church.
On the Judge Doughty farm Abner Doughty, who
died 1820, age 65, is buried, also two children of Enoch
and Charlotte Doughty, who died 1829; also his wife,
Leah, who died in 1831, age 73.
The Shillingforth cemetery is on the East of the
Shore Road in Absecon, near the Doughty plot.
The Risley family plot is on the east side of the
Shore Road near the Delilah Road, Pleasantville, now
plowed up. On Park Avenue, Pleasantville, the Fish
family established a burial plot. On the David L. Steel-
man farm, at Northfield, Peter and Rachel Steelman
were originally buried.
In the woods on the Fast Shore Line tracks near
Linwood, under a fine old white oak, are the grave
stones of Capt. John Somers, who died March 26, 1824,
aged 68, and others by the names of Smith, Scull and
Somers.
On the trolley road outside of Somers Point, on
the road to Pleasantville, is a well-kept graveyard of
286 NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
the Steelman family. It contains several modern monu-
ments and tombstones. The oldest stone is that of John
Steelman, born May 4th, 1748, died Jan'y 8th, 1818.
Inside of the Public School grounds, at Somers
Point, is a small burying ground known as the Somers
cemetery. Here Col. Richard Somers, who died Oct. 22,
1794, in his 57th year, and Sophia his wife, who
died Feb. 3, 1797, in her 56th year, parents of Richard
Somers, who lost his life in Tripoli Harbor, Sept. 4,
1804, are buried. A memorial is also erected to his
memory.
Sarah Keen, widow of Capt. Jonas Keen, and sis-
ter of Commandant Richard Somers, has a stone, as
does Constant Somers, Junior, who died at Cronstadt,
Russia, Aug. 24, 1811.
A short distance to the west of Somers Point there
is another Somers cemetery. The oldest stone is that
of Deborah, wife of Jesse Somers, who died Sept. 18,
1835, aged 60 years, 7 mo., 2 days.
Near Estellville, about a mile from the main road,
in a clump of tall oak trees, is an ancient graveyard of
the Steelman family. The first marked stone is that of
Andrew Steelman, who deceased Feby. 9, 1772, aged 53
years. Several children of Frederick and Naomi Steel-
man also have markers dated from 1784 to 1795.
Another Steelman plot is about a mile away. The oldest
burial there, that of a child, stone is dated June 21,
1806.
At Sayres Field, near Buck Hill, are buried Judith
Conley, died 1780, aged 40; Ephraim Sayrs, Jr., died
1772, aged 24; Bethia Sayrs, died 1780, aged 77;
Ephraim Sayrs, died 1773, aged 66.
In plot at English Creek the following are buried:
David Babcock, born Nov. 18, 1734, died June 6,
1812; Hannah Babcock, born July I, 1739, died June
22, 1803; Elijah Smith, died Nov. 12, 1831, aged 67 yr.
6 mo. 17 da.; Zellah Smith, died Apr. 18, 1805, aged
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 287
36 yr. 9 mo. 3 da. ; Daniel Champion, died Feb. i, 1805,
aged 46 yr. n mo. 18 da.; J. C., d. 1830.
Outside of Tuckahoe, near the county line, is the
ancient Methodist Church, known as the Head of the
River Church. In its yard scores of families are buried
and it is well worth the time to visit this well preserved
building kept as a memorial of by-gone days.
It was established in 1792. The oldest marked
gravestones are those of Joseph Estell, who deceased
May 29, 1793, aged 46; Elizabeth, his wife, died March
6, 1821, aged 69 yr. 5 mo. 7 days; Peter Corson, dec'd
May 31, 1797, aged 23 years; David Sayres, dec'd June
7, 1811, age 75 years; Jane Sayres, dec'd July 26, 1805,
age 65 years; Capt. Benjamin Weathby, died Apr. 20,
1812, aged 65 yrs. 7 days; Capt. Jeremiah Smith, Sol-
dier of the Revolution, born July 24, 1752, died Feb'y
i, 1831; Samuel Stille, died Aug. 2, 1818, aged 62 yr.
4 mo. 12 days.
Other family names on the tombstones are Stiman,
Vanaman, Treen, Ingersoll, Marshall, Steelman, Seeley,
Cambern, Champion, Godfrey, Darwin, Hunter, Wil-
liams, Burnett, Warner.
The Smith and Ireland burying ground, located
near Estellville, contains the graves of Japhet Ireland,
who deceased Feb. 20, 1810, aged 66 yrs. 2 mo. 28 da;
Mary, his wife, who died March 20, 1801, aged 54 yr. 7
mo. 22 da.; Thomas Smith, deceased Oct. 8, 1816, aged
31 yr. 8 mo.; Elias Smith, died July 3, 1838, aged 72
yr. 2 mo., and other members of the two families.
On the Main Road, Mays Landing, is the Wescott
Burial Ground. Among those buried there the follow-
ing names appear : Adams, Conley, Ford, Frazier, Penn-
ington, Rape, Smiley, Taylor, Vaughan, Walker, Wes-
cott.
At Clarkstown, below Mays Landing, there is a
private burying ground of the Rape family. At Cataw-
ba cemetery, on the Great Egg Harbor River three
288 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
miles below Clarkstown, are several graves of the West
and Steelman families. Here, too, vandals have broken
the tombstones.
Central cemetery, at Linwood, is the old burial
grounds of the Friends, but there are no ancient-dated
stones.
In that part of Old Gloucester Co., now known as
Atlantic Co., it is not uncommon for hunters to find in
the woods graves in what seems today to be virgin
forest. The exact location of many of the old family
burial plots inadequately described in deeds cannot be
located today. Tales of tombstones being used for various
purposes are so common that many of them must be
true. Vandals smashing tombstones and farmers plow-
ing up graveyards should be imprisoned in the county
jails.
According to an old deed conveying to Daniel Ire-
land a tract of land between the two Egg Harbor Rivers,
dated Jan. 9, 1728-9, a tract 30 ft. square, known as
the burying ground wherein Thos. Green's children are
buried, is reserved. Thos. Green bought the land from
the daughter of Francis Collings May 8, 1699. Hannah
Dole, widow of Joseph Dole, of Great Egg Harbor, sold
it to Ireland. It adjoined land of Peter Scull. Loca-
tion of burial ground is now unknown.
Old Gloucester County Its Formation and Its
Divisions *
Old Gloucester County included the present counties
of Gloucester, Camden and Atlantic. Atlantic County
was created in 1837 and Camden County in 1844.
Prior to the formation of Atlantic County, Old
Gloucester extended from the Delaware River to the
Atlantic Ocean and at one time large quantities of bog
iron was dug out of the swamps and was used to make
cannon and cannon balls for the wars of the Revolution
and 1812.
In 1694, eight years after the inhabitants of Glouces-
ter County had formed the County, the following law was
passed by the Province of West Jersey: "Be it enacted
by the Governor, Council and Representatives in this As-
sembly met and assembled and by the authority of the
same that the two distinctions or divisions heretofore
called the third and fourth tenths be and is hereby laid
into one county, named and from henceforth to be called
the County of Gloucester, the limits whereof bounded
with the aforesaid river called Crapwell on the North and
the river Berkley (formerly called Old Mans Creek)
on the South."
The same year (1694) the people of the Great Egg
Harbour section were allotted to Gloucester County.
The early plan of dividing West New Jersey into
tenths met with considerable difficulty and was soon aban-
doned.
The third or Irish tenth got its name from the Irish
Quakers who settled there. It extended from Pensauken
to Timber Creeks. The fourth tenth extended from
Timber to Oldmans Creeks and probably got their
* By FRANK H. STEWART.
290 NOTES ON OivD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
boundaries from the deeds given by the Indians. To the
best of my knowledge the boundaries were established by
common consent rather than by law, although an effort
was made to divide the frontage on the Delaware River
and each tenth was to extend back into the woods far
enough to make it contain 64,000 acres.
Distinguished Clergymen*
Rev. Andrew Hunter, Chaplain of Militia and the
Continental Army during the Revolution, participated in
the tea burning episode at Greenwich, Cumberland
County, N. J., Nov. 22, 1774. At the battle of Monmouth
he was complimented for his conduct by General Wash-
ington.
After the Revolution he was pastor of the Presbyte-
rian Church at Woodbury. He was one of the founders
and Principal of the Woodbury Academy. From 1788
to 1804 he was a trustee of Princeton College and from
1804 to 1808 professor of astronomy and mathematics.
His first wife, Ann Riddell,' is buried in the Presbyterian
graveyard at North Woodbury, near the street.
Rev. John Croes was born at Elizabethtown, June
ist, 1762. He was a Revolutionary soldier and a friend
of Rev. Nicholas Collin, rector of Trinity Church of
Swedesboro. January 24th, 1790, he received an invita-
tion to succeed Dr. Collin at a salary of 125 pounds specie
per annum. The invitation was signed by
Isaac Vanneman, George Van Leer,
Mounce Keen, William Matson
Peter Lock, David Hendrickson,
William Homan, Gideon Denny,
Andrew Hendrickson, Charles Lock.
In 1802 he left Swedesboro and became pastor of a
church at New Brunswick. In 1815 he was elected the
first Bishop of P. E. Church of New Jersey. He died
July 30th, 1832.
Rev. Nathaniel Evans, Clergyman and Poet, was
born June 8th, 1742. He lived in Old Gloucester County
and preached at Gloucester. He died Oct. 29th, 1767.
His poems were published in Philadelphia in 1772.
* By FRANK H. STEWART.
Haddon Hall, of Haddonfield*
A sizable book, of the greatest historic and human in-
terest, could be written about the Quaker Lady who
founded the village of Haddonfield, New Jersey, and
whose maiden surname was given to that locality in Old
Gloucester County long before the village of Haddonfield
was thought of. My present object, however, is only to
briefly describe the home of a remarkable woman, the only
woman, so far as I can discover, who came to America
single-handed, as it were, to take possession of and settle
upon a Colonial Plantation in her own right.
Elizabeth was the daughter of John Haddon, Quaker
anchorsmith, of Southwark, London, and Elizabeth
(Clark) his wife. She was born in 1680; arrived in
America 1701 ; married John Estaugh, a Quaker minister
of England travelling in America, in 1701. She died
in 1762 and was buried in Friends' graveyard on Haddon
Avenue, not far from the Town Hall, a Memorial tablet
being there erected to her memory at the 2OOth anniver-
sary of the founding of the Town, in October, 1913.
John Clement, historian of Haddonfield, published,
in 1873, a short article in the American Historical Record,
entitled "The Estaugh House." This mansion, with its
accompaniments, will form the subject of my paper. I
shall designate it by the appropriate name of "Haddon
Hall," given to it by its last occupants, the family of the
late Isaac H. Wood. To distinguish it from the classic
old ruin of Derbyshire, we have but to add ''of Had-
donfield" and its identity is complete, and the chance
thought of Mistress Dorothy Vernon is transformed into
the more real, yet no less romantic and loving one, of
Elizabeth, the Maiden Pioneer.
*By SAMUEL N. RHOADS.
294 NOTES ON Ou> GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
That first American dwelling, where the noble wife
of John Estaugh began her housekeeping, was located
near the centre of a 5OO-acre tract bought by her father,
John Haddon of Londontown, in 1698. A Friend, John
Willis, had been the original patentee from Perm and
Byllynge, and John's son, Thomas, sold it to John Had-
don. The original house was located about 150 yards
from the south bank of Cooper's Creek, on ground rising
about thirty feet above the tidewater landing at that point.
The landing, now unused, was recently called Coles'
Landing, after the late owner of the property. It is in
the extreme rear of the present village of Westmont
(formerly named Rowandtown), and is one and one-half
miles below the bridge over which the King's Highway,
from Burlington to Salem, crosses Cooper's Creek. No
vestige of this house has been known to the oldest inhabi-
tants now living, nor to the generation preceding these,
so far as can be ascertained. The late James Starr L,ip-
pincott, who once lived on the property adjoining, used
to point out the reputed site of the old house cellar, but
even that cannot now be located.
Elizabeth was nearly twenty-one years old when she
took possession of this home, not nineteen, as stated by
Judge Clement in his "First Settlers of Newton Town-
ship." Our knowledge of its construction is based wholly
on circumstantial or traditional evidence. Regarding this,
I quote Clement (1. c. p. 115) : "It has been generally
believed that she erected the first house on this tract of
land, bringing with her much of the material from Eng-
land. This is an error, as a map of the land made by
Thomas Sharp in 1700 (which was before her arrival)
proves that buildings were already on the land ; and it is
supposable that she occupied those already there. John
Willis, the locator of the survey, no doubt put the dwell-
ing there and (perhaps) lived on the premises some time,
for fourteen years had elapsed between the date of the
taking up and John Haddon's title. She probably en-
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 295
larged and improved the house so as to accord with her
notions of convenience and comfort, and to receive her
friends in a proper manner; for it is known that she
never turned the stranger away from her door, or suffered
her acquaintances to look for entertainment elsewhere.
It is worth noting in this connection that the said
John Willis, known as a Philadelphia ship-carpenter in
1696, was no doubt a neighbor of John Haddon in South -
wark, the latter furnishing him anchors for his ships be-
fore he came to America. This explains John Haddon's
purchase of the property on Cooper's Creek from Willis's
son in 1698, he also living in Southwark. The absence
of data for the elder Willis, after 1696, indicates that he
died about that time, and the purchase was probably made
in a settlement of his estate. The family name of Willis
was also prominent on the old minute books of Horsly-
down Meeting, in Southwark, when Elizabeth Haddon
was a girl, so we can see more plainly the chain of cir-
cumstances which finally led her to this wilderness home
across the broad Atlantic.
In any event, we are safe in picturing the Old Had-
donfield house as a very modest home when the dauntless
maiden and her servants began the American housekeep-
ing so admirably dramatized by Longfellow's poem
"Elizabeth."
Much as one would love to linger in the fairy-land of
conjecture as to the sort of house in which John and Eliza-
beth Estaugh married and spent the first eleven years of
their married life, let us now pass to the period in 1713,
when they began to build a more commodious dwelling.
Longfellow has taken Lydia Maria Child's story of the
"Youthful Emigrant," and given us a rare pastoral of
simple cottage life. To these the student is referred,
while we consider the second period of Elizabeth Es-
taugh's life marked by the building of Haddon Hall. The
"New Haddonfield" home site was a mile distant across
lots from the old one and a quarter-mile from the present
296 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
junction of the King's Highway (Haddonfield Main
Street) and the old turnpike, now styled Haddon Avenue.
The Hall stood on the highest knoll near the centre of a
5OO-acre tract which John Haddon bought of Richard
Matthews the same year the Willis tract was acquired.
This plantation adjoined the other one on the south and
east, including, on its southeastern half, nearly all of that
part of the Borough of Haddonfield lying north and west
of the Main Street. A long lane at right-angles to the
present Haddon Avenue has, for many generations, given
access to that thoroughfare, but it is quite likely that the
original lane ran directly from near the front of the house
to the present corner of Main and Tanner Streets, where
a lively tradition locates the residence of Elizabeth's chief
butler. A more eligible site for a fine house than the one
selected by our loving pair does not exist in the neighbor-
hood, and a fine house has always stood on this site for
nearly two hundred years, with the exception of a few
months in 1842, when the original Haddon Hall was
burned and a new brick mansion was erected by Isaac H.
Wood on the same foundations.
The construction of Haddon Hall was not necessi-
tated by an increase in the number of American Estaughs.
It was undoubtedly due, in part, to the expectation that
John Haddon and his wife would spend their declin-
ing years in New Jersey. Some letters from London of
that period indicate this very plainly, but the infirmities
of old age and the dread of an ocean voyage prevented
the journey. Other reasons made it fitting that the Es-
taughs should enlarge their borders. John, all unwitting-
ly perhaps, had been drawn into a strenuous business life
as attorney for his father-in-law and sole agent of the
Pennsylvania Land Company of London. Elizabeth, con-
nected by ties of kinship and friendship with the most
influential Friends of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and
quickly assuming a responsible position in church and
society, had become a great entertainer. Haddonfield, at
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 297
this time, was not the name for even a village ; it literally
was The Fields of Haddon. There were probably not
more than two or three dwellings on the Main Street of
the present town, and they of the most primitive sort a
tavern, a blacksmith shop, a log cabin or two at magnifi-
cent distances. In short, the town of Haddonfield was not
on the map, not even dreamt of, when the Estaughs had
the cellar dug for the new mansion on the knoll. Six feet
below ground it went and two feet above the thick founda-
tion walls of rough-hewn Pennsylvania gneiss were laid,
no doubt being floated up the creek in barges to Stoy's
Landing, at high-tide. The floor of this cellar was, in
part, covered with the square flag-bricks, which, there is
every reason to suppose, were made in England, and
whose origin must not be confounded with that of the
ordinary bricks of the building, made, no doubt, in the
neighborhood.
Having thus, like the Biblical wise man, "digged deep
and founded the building on a rock," as literally as was
possible in West Jersey soil, the superstructure was built
of bricks to the height of two and a half stories in the
main building and to two stories in the annex. A word
as to these bricks and their origin. They still do duty in
the present buildings, and measure 8% x 4 x 2^ inches,
being three-fourths of an inch longer and one-quarter inch
thicker than the present standard brick. The popular
notion that shiploads of bricks were brought over from
England to construct the homes of the early colonists
may have some foundation, but we have proof that bricks
were being manufactured in Burlington, New Jersey, be-
fore Philadelphia was even a name. Some of William
Penn's early building operations at the Manor, made use
of bricks made by J. Redman, of Philadelphia, and in a
letter of Hannah Penn's to Penn's secretary, James
Logan, dated 1700, she says that "a new (brick) maker
at Burlington" now makes them "a crown a thousand
cheaper and as much better" than Redman's sort. It is
19
298 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
certain that, by 1713, brickmaking had become a regular
industry in West Jersey, and where surface clay was ac-
cessible on a plantation, the materials for large building
operations like this were manufactured on the estate as
closely as possible to the operation. There is an old clay
pond, or marsh, just across the turnpike from, and nearly
opposite to the Haddon Hall site, and distant therefrom
about 300 yards. From my infancy almost to this day,
the fenny shallows of this pool have harbored many a
mystery known only to frogs, mosquitoes and boys. Only
of late years has it dawned upon me that this blemish on
the once fertile field of the Redman family was a legacy
of the thrift of their collateral ancestor, Elizabeth Es-
taugh, in her building operations. Doubtless from this,
or a similar depression on the farm, where clay marl of
the best quality for firing is known to lie close to the sur-
face, came the "English bricks" which fiction has made
illustrious. The square flag-bricks which paved the gar-
den walks and cellar floors (as already hinted), were prob-
ably imported, being of finer workmanship, a different
color and of another sort of clay. Their size was exactly
double that of the ordinary kind.
Unfortunately we do not now have access to any
memoranda of the workmen or building expenses of Had-
don Hall. These records, if existing, are probably in
England, owned by some member of the Butcher family
of London. It is not impossible that Francis Collins,
master carpenter and mason, may have had a hand in
planning and erecting the homestead. He was then an
old man, but a close and trusty friend of Elizabeth, his
daughters being her intimate associates. In 1675 he built
the Stepney Meeting House, in London, and in 1682, the
old octagonal Friends' Meeting House in Burlington, N.
J. Another house-builder of the period was William
Matlack, of Penisauken, who, four years later, bought
200 acres of land of John Haddon. Or it may be an ex-
planation of the subsequent family relations between the
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 299
Estaughs and the Redmans, that one of the latter family,
known to be Philadelphia carpenters, may have helped
build Haddon Hall. In any event it could have been built
by no other than a Quaker, and of good Quaker materials
and workmanship!
We owe our present knowledge of the outward ap-
pearance and inner construction of Haddon Hall chiefly
to two sources. The first is a small water-color sketch
made by the brother of Thomas Redman the third, John
Evans Redman, of Philadelphia, whose maternal ancestor
was a niece of Elizabeth Estaugh. Redman was of an
artistic and literary turn, and delighted in the beauties of
his brother's country-home. He contributed some de-
scriptive and poetical essays to the Philadelphia Casket in
the early thirties, illustrated with woodcuts, by Gilbert,
after the author's sketches of Haddonfield scenes. John
Clement says that this water-color view of Haddon Hall
was made by John Evans Redman in 1821, but a legend
of rather modern writing on the back of it gives the date
about ten years later. The most reliable data as to the
interior architecture of the Hall is furnished by Rebecca
C. W. Reeve, oldest daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth
Wood, and who was a child of eight years when the house
was burned. It had been the home of her parents from
1831 until the fire destroyed it, in 1842. To the kind and
thoughtful courtesy of Rebecca Reeve and to her love of
the parental homestead, still held by her brother, Samuel
Wood, added to a good memory of the stirring events of
the night of the fire, we owe much.
I can do no better than quote from her letter to me
about the old Hall :
CAMDEN, N. J.
S. N. RHOADS:
Respected Friend. Thee requests a Plan of Haddon Hall, my
old and well-loved home, which I enclose made on a large scale
as easier to draw. The House was brick, rough-cast and yellow the
Kitchen part also brick and rough-cast. The Garden wall enclosed
the North and East sides only a fence running along close to the
box -tree walk, with the one yew tree near the gate.
3oo NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
The path from Hall door to front yard gate was in same position
as at present but the flag-bricks have been twice reset the last
time by my brother Samuel Wood.
The fire occurred about midnight of the I4th of April (Second
day night of Yearly Mtg. week in Phila.) 1842.
My Father, Isaac Hornor Wood, and Mother Elizabeth H.
Cooper Wood with their children, Rebecca Cooper, William Cooper,
Isaac Hornor Jr and Alexander Cooper, the latter six months old,
with their three Colored maids, two col'd boys and a white man, con-
stituted the household. One colored boy lost his life in the fire.
The fire started in kitchen, and supposedly by a man retiring late
and dropping a match.
Much of furniture in main part of house was saved by herculean
efforts, and also on account of very thick wall, between the main and
kitchen part of house. A trunk full of valuable family papers, which
had been kept in a room on third floor for safe-keeping, was not
secured by the man sent for them; therefore burned, an irreparable
loss.
Some of the walls were standing next morning ; but pulled down
when cool, and the bricks used in rebuilding.
The front door, (and also either the back hall door or door of
kitchen we know not which) were lifted from the hinges and carried
out and are now used as cellar doors in my brother's home.
The Barns were not damaged.
The present descendants of E. Haddon have my parents to thank
for the preservation, enlarging and beautifying the place; as it had
been sold by the Sheriff, and despoilers had been busy before their
purchase of it. It has been in family of Isaac and Elizabeth Wood
for seventy-seven years.
The original of the picture sold under the name of the "Estaugh
House 1776 to 1876" was made during the residence in it of Sarah
Cresson, whose carriage in the lane is shown in the picture.
REBECCA C. W. REEVE.
February eleventh, Nineteen hundred and eight.
It may be here added that the only building now
standing on the property, originally constructed for Eliza-
beth Estaugh, is her old brick Brew House. It stands
about 30 feet from the rear of the mansion.
The plans of the first and second stories, as remember-
ed by Rebecca Reeve, accompanied the letter. A study of
these, as also of Redman's sketch, shows a considerable
annex on the north end of the main building. The front
of this annex in the water-color view plainly appears to
project beyond the mansion some distance, apparently
four to six feet. In the Reeve plan the reverse of this is
shown.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 301
This two-story, four-roomed "Annex," as I have
called it, with its pent-roof, low ceilings and apparent
lack of cellar,* strongly suggests having been built be-
fore the larger building to which it was attached. This
is quite likely, and it would have formed ample accom-
modations for a year or more during which the main
building and its accessories were being leisurely com-
pleted after the good, old, conservative Quaker fashion.
That the two parts of Haddon Hall were separately
built is further shown by the fact that the walls between
them were double-thick, and the first floor of the small-
er structure was about three feet lower than that of its
neighbor, and the height of the ceilings so different that
no second-story connection existed between them.
Future researches may show that a period of five or six
years elapsed between the construction of the two build-
ings, and that the larger one was built with a view of
bringing John Haddon and his wife over to live with
their favorite children during their declining years.
There are several well-known facts which favor this
theory. As the present building stands on the ancient
foundations, we know that the frontage of the old one
was 43 feet and the gable end 36 feet wide. The annex
must have increased the total frontage, as seen coming
up the lane, to 60 feet.
We know not a little of the original furnishings of
Haddon Hall, much of these being distributed, before
the house was burned, among the heirs of Ebenezer Hop-
kins, Elizabeth Estaugh's adopted nephew, who was my
great, great, great grandfather. Among these heir-
looms are several fine old chairs; a large marble-top,
claw-foot parlor-table; a tall, heavy, gilt-topped parlor
mirror; a very tall and finely constructed grandfather's
dock, made in London; a truly splendid old chest of
drawers, etc., etc. All these show that substantial ele-
gance, which indicates both wealth and thrift, that happy
* The wine vault was probably under the front room of this part.
302 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
combination which so many strive after, but so few at-
tain.
A search among the journals of traveling ministers
of the period between 1720 and 1762 shows that Had-
don Hall had almost a monopoly in the hospitalities
given to "Public Friends" visiting that neighborhood.
Thomas Story, Thomas Wilson and James Dickinson,
Benjamin Kidd, William Reckitt, William Ellis, John
Fothergill, Samuel Bownas, Mary (Pace) Weston,
Catherine Peyton, Edmund Peckover and others, were
visitors there from Old England. Besides these, were
some from New England and New York, also many
prominent Friends from Philadelphia and Burlington.
Of these latter, were the Pemberton, Logan, Cadwalla-
der, Smith, Norris, Jennings, Drinker, Wain and Rawle
families, with some of whom John Estaugh had deal-
ings both secular and religious. One of the most read-
able notices of a social visit to the "Widow Estaugh's"
is given in the now well-known book, "Hannah Logan's
Courtship," pages 118 and 167, in which, under date of
8th Month 29th, 1747, John Smith, the undaunted
lover, records how he followed Hannah to Burlington
and took her to Mount Holly that afternoon after meet-
ing, etc.
Journal of Thomas Clark*
He was a son of Jeffery and Mary Clark, born
Feb. 1 8th, 1737, and died Oct. 29, 1809. On Jan'y 4th,
1758, he was wrecked on a small vessel below Red
Bank and drifted ashore at Ladd's Cove, where he was
rescued by John Wilkins, Sr., John Tatum and Moses
Curtin. He changed his mind about being a sea-faring
man and settled in Gloucester County, where he mar-
ried Christian Vanneman, daughter of Garrett and Chris-
tian Vanneman, April 8, 1758. She was born Sept. 20,
1741.
The first year after their marriage he lived with
Isaac Cooper and his wife resided with her parents. They
began to keep house March 25, 1759, and lived with Isaac
Cooper as overseer in a brick house in Cooper's meadow,
near Clomell Creek dam.
In March, 1761, they moved on the Garrett Van-
neman plantation, which was his birth-place. March
25th, 1768, he moved on the farm he bought of John
Vanneman, and while he lived on that plantation he had
a spell of sickness and a swelling appeared in his right
thigh. Doctor Bodo Otto wished to cut his leg off,
which he would not permit, but consented to have it
lanced, and then the wound healed.
On Sept. 5, 1769, at 2.40 A. M., a comet appeared
in the heavens. He notes that the year 1751 had no
month of January or February, nor the first 24 days of
March, and that the year ended on the 3ist day of Decem-
ber, and not as formerly on the 24th day of March.
September, 1752, had none of the following days in
England or America, viz., 3rd to I3th. He claimed to
have taken this entry from the Hibernian Almanac, and
that it was fresh in his memory.
* By FRANK H. STEWART.
304 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
Feb'y 2, 1772, he was appointed Justice of the
Peace and took the oath of office tinder the King's Gov-
ernment and remained until the Revolution.
April, 1775, he was elected one of the Council of
Proprietors for the Western Division of New Jersey,
and served for many years, part of the time its vice pres-
ident.
Nov. 19, 1774. Repaupa Creek was "Stoped out"
by James Hinchman, James Steelman and himself, man-
agers appointed by act of Assembly.
On March 9, 1776, he was in New York and saw
the streets entrenched and the enemy in sight.
March 27, 1777, he moved to Deptford Township,
on the West place, where he had a disagreeable scene
occasioned by the war. Probably an argument with a
tory.
On Oct. 4, 1777, he was taken prisoner by the
British and kept prisoner by them during an action with
the American Shipping. It happened to be on the day
of the battle of Germantown, and he and Tench Fran-
cis got liberty to go home on that account.
In the winter of 1777 he saw an ox roasted on the
ice opposite Philadelphia.
On Sept. 20, 1778, he was elected one of the Con-
vention of New Jersey when they assumed the govern-
ment of New Jersey.
Dec. 24, 1779, he took the qualifications to the gov-
ernment established under Authority of the People.
March 13, 1782, he moved on the plantation he
bought of Samuel Paul, Sr., in Greenwich Twp.
When he was 25 years of age he weighed 137 Ibs.
and 237 at the age of 64.
Oct., 1784, he was elected an Assemblyman for the
County of Gloucester and served thereafter for a period
of seven years in the N. J. Legislature.
In Nov., 1795, and again in Nov., 1800, he was
elected a Judge and Justice of the Peace of Gloucester
Co.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 305
His children were: Edith, born May 5, 1759, mar-
ried May 21, 1777, to David Hendrickson; Mary, born
Jan. 28, 1761, married Jan'y 7, 1780, to Joseph Paul;
Anne, born March 4, 1763, married Feb'y 10, 1786, to
Samuel D. Paul; Elizabeth, born Dec. 29, 1764, married
Feb'y 10, 1786, to Edmund Weatherby, died Sept. 12,
1795; buried at Solomon's Meeting; Thos Clark, Jr.,
born Jan'y 18, 1767, married, Dec. 21, 1786, Achsah
Pancoast; Lydia, born March 26, 1769, married Aug.
21, 1788, Andras Ridgway; died Sept 4, 1804, left 6
sons and 2 daughters, buried at E. Wetherby's; Jeffry
Clark, Jr., born Nov. 20, 1771, married Aug 12, 1790,
to Rachel Weatherby; Christian, born July 12, 1774,
married Sept. 30, 1790, to James C. Wood; Joseph,
born Sept. 23, 1776, married Sept. 22, 1796, Elizabeth
Tiers; John, born Apr. 3, 1779, married Nov. 7, 1799,
to Mary Lane.
His father and mother were buried in St. Paul's
Church Yard, Philadelphia.
His brother Timothy Clark was buried at Clomell
on Vanneman's plantation, in the orchard, and had a
head and foot-stone marked by Thos. Clark.
His sister Ann Day, wife of Charles Day, died
about Sept., 1755, and was buried in Coles Churchyard
in Waterford Twp. Had a tombstone.
His brother George was buried in a private burial
ground in Salem. He died Dec., 1767, aged about 21
years.
July 4th, 1800, he manumitted a man slave he had
raised in his family.
Oct., 1800, a thunder and lightning storm in Green-
wich and Deptford Townships near Mantua Creek lower
bridge, set fire to James Hinchman's barn, and it and its
contents of grain and hay were consumed. Also set fire
to three different heaps of cornstalks in George Law-
rence's field on the Death of the Fox place.
306 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
July 23, 1802. Thomas Reeves, a man of good
sense and character, was killed by lightning.
May 8th, 1803. There was a snow about ankle
deep.
Between October, 1802, and October, 1803, New
Jersey was without a governor because of a tie in the
legislature.
June ist, 1804. He laid the big sluice in the
meadow on Mantua Creek.
When he was 64 years of age he wrote an account
of his life in which he said he bought and read books
and became a surveyor and conveyancer, despite his
natural disabilities. He was executor of many estates
and guardian of minors. He built a house of worship
in Greenwich Township, named Berkley, in memory of
Lord Berkley, proprietor of West New Jersey. He
claimed that he was never sued for a just debt, nor
scarcely ever sued any person, and that no person was
ever detained in jail on his account, nor their lands or
goods sold. "This gives peace to the mind and to God
that passeth all understanding."
In his Journal he wrote poetry and observations on
various subjects. He also recorded some well known
happenings. He closes it with "This Journal is writ with
my own hand" * * * "from other books so as to have
them together."
These extracts were made from a copy of the Jour-
nal in possession of L. Irving Reichner, Esq., a descend-
ant of Thomas Clark.
Battle of Chestnut Neck*
This important Battle in Old Gloucester County in
what is now Atlantic County is, like the Battle of Red
Bank, called to mind by a beautiful monument overlook-
ing the mouth of Mullica River, erected by the State of
New Jersey and dedicated Oct. 6, 1911. The inscription
reads "In honor of the brave patriots who defended their
liberties and their homes in a battle fought near this site
Oct. 6, 1778." Even at this late date cannon balls are
dredged up by the oyster tongers of Great Bay and plowed
up by the farmers of Chestnut Neck and Clarks Landing.
The British fleet was sent to Little Egg Harbor to
destroy the Iron Works at Batsto furnace at the forks of
the Mullica River and destroy the ships secreted in the
waters of Little Egg Harbor bay and river and the
battle of Chestnut Neck resulted. The British burned
the town of Chestnut Neck, which was then one of
the largest settlements on the New Jersey Coast. They
also destroyed the ships in the harbor before being driven
away by Pulaski's Legion.
At low tide the wreck of a ship may be seen at Green
Bank and two others at Chestnut Neck. The locality is
full of traditions of the Revolution. The women and chil-
dren fled to the swampy woods while the men formed
squads to defend their homes.
Lewis French, who donated the ground for the monu-
ment, told me that an English officer was killed and buried
between his house and the present road, and that another
English soldier was killed by a militiaman he was chasing
around the house that then occupied the site of the present
house which was built a year or so after the battle, the
English having burned the original one, together with
several others.
* By FRANK H. STEWART.
308 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
A few hundred yards away towards the bay is a
mound known since the battle as Fort Hill.
Mr. French while tonging for oysters discovered the
wreck of one of the ships sunk during the battle. He
tonged out about one hundred bushels of English cannel
coal of fine quality and used it aboard his boat.
In the gravel pit, adjacent to his home, several skele-
tons have been found, one of which was in good condition
and was buried under the monument.
Paine's tavern, a famous hostelry of that period, is
said to have been burned, as were a number of houses on
the other side of the river.
The number of iron relics, such as hand made nails,
bolts and hinges, together with cannon balls, grape shot
and gun barrels found in the neighborhood, are mute evi-
dences of the devastation wrought there.
Near the site of the warehouse where the American
privateers stored their spoils before it was carted away to
Philadelphia many copper coins and Indian relics have
been found.
The foundations of the old houses are occasionally
found while the ground is being cultivated.
Life of Dr. Bodo Otto, Jr.*
Dr. Bodo Otto, Jr., was the brother, son, grandson
and father of distinguished physicians. With his brother,
Dr. John A. Otto, and his father, Dr. Bodo Otto, Sr., he
served at Valley Forge during the memorable winter of
1777-8 in the hospital of which his father was Chief
Surgeon.
Born in Hanover, Germany, September 14, 1748, he
was brought to Philadelphia as a child of four years, by
his father, Dr. Bodo Otto, Sr. After receiving as com-
plete a preliminary education as the country afforded he
pursued his medical studies under the instruction of his
father, receiving his degree as B. M. (Bachelor of Medi-
cine) in 1771, from the University of Pennsylvania. He
settled in Gloucester County, N. J., a few miles from
Swedesboro. Raccoon Creek flows past this point to the
Delaware River, and the settlement seems to have been
called at that time Raccoon, f The mother of his children,
Catharine Schweighauser, evaded the following dire warn-
ings which her mother, Mrs. Jean Conrad Schweighauser
(Margaret Klampffer), wrote in German in her note
book$ on March 23, 1763, when her daughter was twelve
years old : "George Keller, of Canastoga, told me that my
daughter Catharine was to be on her guard against falling
or fire every year on her birthday especially when Saturn
and the Moon or Mars and the Moon are in conjunction
in the constellation of the water-bearer, which will occur
when she is 19 years of age it is then she has to be most
careful; and every 19 years she is to be on her guard
and he says that my son Jacob would become very domes-
* By OTTO TOD MAU.ERY, his great-great-grandson.
t My authority for this name Is a note In my possession, dated 1783,
signed by the then "Rector of the Lutheran Church at Racoon", In which
the Rector, Nicholas Collln, gives the birthdays of the 4 children of Bodo
Otto, Jr., and states that he baptized the last three.
t Original In possession of the writer.
310 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
tic" (and that he would invent something- new, if he lived
long enough).
The next year after receiving his medical degree he
married, as told in the following notation written in
French* by his father-in-law, John (or Jean) Conrad
Sch weighauser : "On the 6th of February, 1 772, between
seven and eight in the evening my daughter Catharine
(Schweighauser) was married (in Philadelphia) to Dr.
Bodo Otto, Jr., who lives in the Jersey about 15 miles
from Philadelphia. She went away with him Feb. n,
1772, at n o'clock in the morning."
During Bodo's short, active and useful career in
camp, hospital and legislative chamber, his faithful wife
made a comfortable home in Swedesboro for the children,
Catharine Margaret, John Conrad (the distinguished
Philadelphia physician) and Jacob. When Jacob was
three months old, in March, 1778, a fight occurred on the
grounds surrounding their home, between Col. Maw-
hood's Regiment of British and the Americans. (See
Note i ) . The house and barn were burned. Mrs. Bodo
Otto was driven from their home with her young brood,
the youngest, baby Jacob, in her arms. The father was
away from home at this time. The date corresponds with
that of his service at Valley Forge, the most gloomy and
heart-breaking months of the War for Independence.
Mother and children found shelter among neighbors until
a new home was found. In the "History of Gloucester
County, N. J." (pp. 300) an old inhabitant is quoted as
pointing out in the middle of the iQth century the brick
house of Dr. Bodo Otto, Jr., at Swedesboro, built previous
to the Revolution, and later occupied by William Welch.
In this house the fourth and last child was probably born,
Daniel, on Jan. 15, 1780, and all four children were
reared.
An entry in an old family Bible gives an account of
the destruction of the Swedesboro house and farm at
Original In possession of the writer.
Note 1. From "History of Medical Men In New Jersey", by Wlckes.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 311
variance with the preceding. The entry in the Bible was
made about 1840. The Bible version was included in an
address before the College of Physicians of Philadelphia
in 1845, by Dr. Isaac Parrish, in a Biographical Memoir
concerning Dr. John Conrad Otto, the son of Bodo Otto,
Jr. Dr. Parrish's account reads: "During Dr. Bodo
Otto, Jr's, absence from home on military duty, his house
was fired by his political antagonists, the Tories, and his
wife and several young children were driven from their
home in the midst of an inclement season, while all the
products of the farm were consumed. The incendiaries
were apprehended and convicted; and notwithstanding
the calamity into which their acts had plunged him, Dr.
Otto interferred in their behalf, and actually took a long
journey on horseback to obtain their pardon. His mis-
sion was successful, but being overtaken by a violent
storm, he contracted a severe catarrh, followed by pul-
monary consumption, and died. The version in the Bible
in the handwriting of his grandmother, Janette Otto
(Mrs. Judge Garrick Mallery) seems to have been the
source of Dr. Parrish's address, similar words occurring
in both. The Bible version says that in fording a stream,
during a violent storm, he contracted a severe cold which
terminated his life. The present writer is unable to say
whether the historical account or the family account is the
true one.
Whatever may have been the circumstances which
destroyed his residence, the short career which gave him
his reputation and character begins with his warm espousal
of the patriot cause, his support of the Provincial Congress
which met at Trenton, N. J., on Nov. 23, 1775, and after-
wards at Burlington and New Brunswick. By that body
he was appointed, July 24, 1776, Surgeon of the Battalion,
under command of Col. Chas. Read, destined to reinforce
the flying camp. ( See Note 2 ) . This was less than three
weeks after the Declaration of Independence. Subsequent-
Note Z. See "History of Medical Men in New Jersey", by Wlckes.
312 NOTES ON OLD GIX>UCESTER COUNTY.
ly he was elected to the Senate of New Jersey, then com-
missioned as Colonel of State Troops, First Battalion,
Gloucester County.
The personalities who bore the strain, suffering and
discouragements of Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-8
have won a lasting place in the hearts of their fellow
countrymen. The administration of a modern well-equip-
ped army hospital requires sufficient fortitude to test the
courage and ability of its medical officers. How much
more severe must have been the test at Valley Forge,
where food was scarce and inferior, typhoid rampant,
clothing insufficient, the cold intense, and all the diseases
raging which follow underfeeding and exposure? Dr.
Bodo Otto, Jr., his father, Bodo Otto, Sr., and his brother,
Dr. John A. Otto, struggled manfully against disease,
discouragement, and doubt, while the great British army
lived in comfort and feasted in luxury in Philadelphia. A
family tradition attributes the following letter to Dr. Bodo
Otto, Jr., from Valley Forge, addressed to his wife in
Swedesboro :
"Mv DARUNG WIFE:
I miss you and the children. I miss your good cooking. Here
we have to change the order of our courses to get variety. For
breakfast we have bacon and smoke, for lunch, smoke and bacon,
for supper, smoke."
He did not long survive the completion of his mili-
tary duties, but died before his venerable father, on Jan.
29, 1782, in the 34th year of his age, in his Swedesboro
house, and lies buried in the churchyard of the Episcopal
Church there, of which he had been a vestryman.
Custom House at Little Egg Harbor *
Little Egg Harbor was a port of entry and a great
deal of the importations from Europe and the West Indies
came into Gloucester County via that section. Ebenezer
Tucker, Esq., a Revolutionary soldier, was collector, sur-
veyor and inspector during the last decade of the i8th
century. His books of records cannot now be found but
many manuscript letters and printed circulars of instruc-
tion, copies of U. S. laws from Alexander Hamilton,
Tench Coxe, W. Eveleigh, Comptroller, Joseph Nourse,
Register, Oliver Wolcott, Timothy Pickering, Aaron
Dunham and others still exist.
Numerous blank forms for various kinds of reports
to be made under the different laws, and forms for ex-
pense reports, fees, drawbacks, imports, exports, bonds,
gauging, measuring, are carefully filed and saved.
The earliest blank reports were for the last quarter
of the year 1789, and the first letter was a manuscript cir-
cular signed by A. Hamilton, dated Oct. 10, 1789, to the
effect that manifests of cargoes must be delivered to the
Collectors of the Ports from which they are to sail. The
object of this provision was to obtain a knowledge of the
exports.
On February 27, 1790, N. Eveleigh wrote Surveyor
Tucker requesting that his oath of office and bond with
sufficient security be transmitted as early as possible. He
said they were already six months beyond the three months
allowed by law. The communications were transmitted
by means of business men travelling back and forth.
The settlement of Chestnut Neck on the southerly
side of the Mullica or Little Egg Harbor River extended
to Nacot Creek and probably got its name from the trees
that predominated there. It was an important community
composed of seafaring people and traders.
* By FRANK H. STEWART.
20
314 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
Further up the Little Egg Harbor river at its forks
was the center of merchandise distribution.
Among the well known Captains who in 1793 sailed
to Amsterdam, Bilboa, Antigua, Nantz and other ports
were Joseph Jones, Benjamin Adams, John Burrowes,
Thomas Walker, Jeremiah Somers. Among the places
where boats were built, Raccoon Creek, Nacot Creek and
Great Egg Harbor are mentioned.
Several lists of ships whose papers were taken by
force and retained, together with printed lists of American
seamen detained abroad because of lack of citizenship
papers, are filed with the custom house papers of Little
Egg Harbor.
In a controversy between Silas Crane, a judge and
soldier of the Revolution, who succeeded Ebenezer Tuck-
er as Collector, and Collector Winner of Somers Point, we
gain a small list of ships and masters of 1808, viz. :
Ship "Regulata," Wm. Clark, Master; Sloop
"Orange," John Endicott, Master; Sloop "Liberty," Rich-
ard Leeds, Master; Ship "Dolphin," Richard Risley,
Master; Sloop ''Juno," Augustus Sooy, Master.
A little later the names of Samuel Loveland, Thomas
Rose, Bennett Rose and others appear.
The records contain much about wrecks, sales of
boats, tariffs, privateers of the war of 1812, prisoners of
war, and a few signatures of famous men like James
Monroe and James Madison, are conspicuous. The early
records of the port of Great Egg Harbor (Somers Point)
seem to be mislaid or destroyed. Diligent effort on my
part to find them availed nothing. It is quite possible that
a thorough investigation would determine their fate.
Diary of Ann Whitall *
James Whitall was born 7 mo.^-iyiy O. S. Died 9 mo. -29-
1808.
Ann, his wife, was the daughter of John and Ann Cooper. She
was born 4 mo.-23-i7i6 ; died 9-22-1797.
She was a pious Quakeress. Her manuscript diary
from /th day of 2 mo., 1760, to 25th day I ith mo., 1762,
is now in possession of Logan Pearsoll Smith, Esq., of
England, and these extracts were made from- a copy
given by him to Albert Cook Myers, who has spent
several years on historical matters pertaining to the
early settlements on the Delaware River.
4-24-1760. Hab. Ward & Mos. Ward came here
to the dam there has been so much quarreling about and
brought two axes, two mattocks and two spades to cut
the dam down and to work they went, and Sparks
brought the Sheriff and there was miserable work but
they tied them and took them to Joseph Harrisons, and
from there to jail.
In her diary she gives her pedigree and mentions
a long list of trials and tribulations, mostly trivial. She
was a faithful attendant at Friends' meetings and com-
ments freely on what interested her. On ist day 7 mo.
1760 she writes: Now been married about twenty years.
She criticizes a marriage between Abe Chatting and
Ruth Wood, widow and widower, 22-7 mo. 1760.
21, 9, 1760. Benagy Andrews lives with Kate now
Tom. is dead. Sam. died in the fall and Tom. in the
Spring, both with the small pox. They did not live
long after their dear father Peter Andrews.
16-11-1760. Hannah Andrews buried.
22-11-1760. Old Joshua Lord laid in his grave.
Chatfield, who was to marry Hannah Andrews, died
a week after her.
James Browns wife dead.
Sam'l Abbott is dead.
* By FRANK H. STEWART.
316 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
3-12 mo. 1760. Alice Brown laid in her grave.
Jan. C. Crosway from old England at Haddonfield
meeting.
Went to meeting in wagon.
Grieves over smallness of meeting. Uncle James
Lord died a young man. My father was taken away.
Joseph Gibson went to Salem. Joseph Tomlinson to
Haddonfield.
5 day 4 mo. 1761. David Cooper gone to Assembly
for the first time.
6-9 mo. 1761. First day to meeting, next day to
Haddonfield. Now their fine carriage house is finished
and painted. Our friend Peter Fiern was there to speak.
Grace Fisher and Sarah Hopkins went to Egg Har-
bor meeting I day 10 mo. 1761, with Josiah Albertson.
Joseph White back from Old England.
5 day- 12- 1716. First youths meeting at Woodbury
we have had.
Hannah Smith gone to her long home.
16-3-1762. Richard Matlacks wife deceased.
18-3-1762. John Mickle is married.
26-3-1762. A very full Quarterly meeting. John
Woolman, Joseph White and Betty Mores in attendance.
A wonderful meeting it was. It seems people have
grown some better since last fall.
William Hunt from Carolina, John Woolmans
cousin, at meeting.
John Hopkins is married 4 day igth of 5 mo. 1762.
Betty Sloan married on 5th day.
James Brown married on 6th day to Katy Andrews.
18-4 mo. 1762. David Coopers house burned down.
6-7 mo. 1762. David Cooper and his six children
and our sister Hannah have a home to live in again.
17-9-1762. Sarah Wood has changed her name to
Tatum.
19-4-1762. James Whital married.
23-6-1780. John Tatum married again to Eliza-
beth Cooper.
Historical Notes *
MARK NEWBIE'S IRISH PENCE.
In the spring of 1682 Mark Newbie succeeded in
having a law passed making his imported half-pence
legal tender to the extent of five shillings. Newbie was
a member of the West Jersey Assembly, was one of the
first settlers and his coins are now quite rare. It was
about one hundred years later that the Colony of New
Jersey issued its own copper cents.
THINGS TO DO.
The site of Fort Nassau, built in 1623, should be ap-
propriately marked, also the first churches that have long
since passed away.
A complete list of all tombstone inscriptions of aban-
doned graveyards, both public and private, should be made
and published before vandalism and age obliterate them
forever. All graveyards should be taken over and kept
in repair by public authority. For the sake of a few extra
ears of corn many burial plots forever reserved in recorded
deeds have been farmed over to the disgrace of avarice.
The Indian trails should be located and marked;
also the Indian village sites.
The first roads should be mapped and published
and the locations of the old inns and taverns and ferries
indicated thereon.
Old Colonial homesteads should be photographed or
sketched.
LARGE WHITE OAKS.
On the banks of Mantua Creek are two mammoth
oak trees. The one near Mt. Royal is known as the Tatem
* By FRANK H. STEWART.
318 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
oak, and the one near Mantua as the Rose or Avis oak.
The 1917 measurements made by Wm. P. Haines follow :
Tatem. Rose or Avis.
Height 92 ft. 87 ft.
Girth at 6 ft 27 ft. 19 ft 7 in.
Girth at 2 ft 32 ft. 24 ft.
Spread of branches no ft. 105 ft.
The fine old white oak at Mickleton, which measured
17 ft. 6 in. in girth at 2 feet above the ground in 1905,
is now dead. It had a spread of 87 ft.
GLOUCESTER COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
This splendid organization perhaps more than any
other is composed almost entirely of the descendants of
the ancient and determined pioneers of Old Gloucester.
It has its own building, on the Old King's Highway, in
Woodbury, which contains a very rare collection of refer-
ence books; a large collection of furniture, including the
writing desk of Elizabeth Haddon, pictures, china, manu-
scripts and other relics of all kinds.
Among its rare manuscript treasures are several that
belonged to Washington and indorsed by him. The most
valuable one is probably an indemnity bond given to
Washington, while President, by the famous and last sur-
vivor of the signers of the Declaration of Independence,
Charles Carroll, of Carrollton. There are also several
deeds for land on the Potomac River. Another rare docu-
ment, dated 1675, is signed by John Fenwick, who found-
ed Salem, and witnessed by Richard Noble, the surveyor,
who laid out the city of Burlington.
It was through the efforts of the Gloucester County
Historical Society that the famous battlefield of Red Bank
and the handsome old Moravian Church were saved for
the future. From time to time many historical papers
have been read before the Society, and its publications are
highly prized by those interested in history and antiqui-
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 319
ties. John G. Whitall, a descendant of Ann Whitall,
the heroine of Red Bank, is its President, and Dr. Wallace
McGeorge, chairman Board of Trustees, W. M. Carter,
secretary.
1794 MILITARY CENSUS.
In the year 1794 a military census was taken of all
the male residents of Old Gloucester between the age of
1 8 and 45 years. Fortunately the scraps of paper con-
taining several thousands of these names have escaped
destruction so far and through the kindness of Miss Sarah
A. Risley they were copied and a list of the names has
been presented to The Genealogical Society of Pennsyl-
vania.
GLOUCESTER COUNTY POST OFFICES.
The post masters in Gloucester County for the year
1800 were:
Nathan Donnell, of Woodbury, who received $33.50
for his services for the year.
John Croes, of Swedesboro, received $11.20.
Reynold Keen, of Atsion, received $14.74.
John Branson, of Haddonfield, no amount mentioned.
RATTLESNAKE AT RACCOON.
The first settlers of Old Gloucester, as is shown by the
early records, were harassed by the depredations of wild
beasts. Snakes also were numerous and we find in the
Raccoon Church records that Anders Lock, one of the
Swedes, died from the bite of a rattlesnake and was
buried August 5, 1716.
JAMES LAWRENCE.
"Don't give up the Ship."
Was born Oct. i, 1781, at Burlington, N. J. He
studied law with his brother John, of Woodbury, for two
years 1796-8. Ernest Redfield, Esq., now has some of
320 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
his law books. He entered the U. S. Navy Sept. 4, 1798,
as a midshipman, and served through the war with France.
In 1800 he was acting lieutenant on the sloop of war
"John Adams." He served under his school-boy chum,
Stephen Decatur, in the Mediterranean squadron, during
the war with Tripoli, and received by resolution of Con-
gress a sword for gallantry in action. During the war
of 1812 he served on the Frigate ''Constitution" and other
famous ships. While in command of the Frigate "Chesa-
peake" he engaged the British Frigate "Shannon" off
Boston, Mass., and was mortally wounded June i, 1813,
and died aboard his ship at sea four days later. He was
buried at Halifax, N. S., with military honors, and on
Sept. 1 6, 1813, his remains were removed to Trinity
Churchyard, New York.
RICHARD SOMERS.
Born at Somers Point, Sept. 15, 1778, was appointed
a midshipman April 30, 1798. He served on the Frigate
"United States" during the war with France, and during
the war with Tripoli, like Stephen Decatur and James
Lawrence, was in the Mediterranean squadron. He lost
his life while in command of the "Ketch Intrepid," a fire
ship, Sept. 4, 1804. The "Intrepid" was blown up and
none of the officers or crew were saved.
GLOUCESTER COUNTY FAMILIES IN THE WEST.
In the first decade of the last century, and later, hun-
dreds of persons in Gloucester County removed to Ohio
and westward. Many of the family names of Old Glou-
cester County are now prevalent in Cincinnati and there-
abouts. One hundred years ago it took approximately
thirty days to go by loaded wagon from the Great Egg
Harbor section to the valley of the "Miami Country" in
Ohio.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 321
MEN OF THE REVOLUTION.
Among the prominent men of Old Gloucester County
during the war of the Revolution who deserve mention
were John Cooper, John Wilkins, John Sparks, Tench
Francis, Colonels Joseph Ellis, Elijah Clark, Bodo Otto,
Israel Shreeve, Robert Brown, Joseph Hugg, Richard
Somers, Samuel Tonkin, Majors Samuel Flanningham,
Richard Wescott, Captains Samuel Hugg, Robert Tay-
lor, Benjamin Whitall, John Davis, John Wood, William
Ellis, Jeremiah Smith, George Payne and Samuel Shreeve,
Paymaster John Little, Surgeon Thomas Hendry.
BATTLE OF GLOUCESTER.
In a letter from Lafayette to Washington, dated Had-
donfield, November 26, 1777, a full and complete account
is given of the Battle of Gloucester.
Lafayette was in command of a detachment of the
New Jersey Militia and as a result of the victory which
caused the retirement of the British across the Delaware
from New Jersey to Pennsylvania, Washington suggested
to Congress that Lafayette be given command of a divi-
sion of the Continental Army. Congress complied with
the suggestion and a few days later Lafayette was honor-
ed with a commission. Colonel Joseph Ellis, of Glouces-
ter County, was also in the engagement, which had far
reaching effects and gave the New Jersey Militia a fine
reputation that still exists.
Gloucester Fox Hunting Club*
This famous sporting club, composed of prominent
men of Gloucester County and Philadelphia according- to
manuscript reminiscences written by one of its members
about one hundred years ago, was established early in the
1 8th century; interest waned for a time; about 1760 it
was revived. Capt. Samuel Morris for a long time prior
to 1807 was annually re-chosen as its president. When
age compelled him to give up riding a horse he rode in a
light wagon to the hunting place, which was carefully
selected where good roads intersected each other and
where the cry of the pack of hounds constantly saluted
the ear.
Among the members prior to the Revolution were
Anthony Rainey, Joshua Gatcliff, Samuel Gatcliff, and
Solomon Park, the watch maker of North Front Street,
Philadelphia. The latter was an active hunter and mem-
ber until 1815, when he was over seventy years of age.
In the year 1800 the members numbered about thirty,
about half of whom were active hunters. The other half
preferred the festivity of the hunting dinner to the excite-
ment of the chase.
Robert Wharton, Mayor of Philadelphia, succeeded
Capt. Morris as president. Capt. Charles Ross, of the
First Troop of Philadelphia City Cavalry, Capt. Wm.
Davy of the merchant service, Benj. West, G. L. and J.
Morris, Sr., Edward Davies, Solomon Park, A. M. Buck-
ley, all of Philadelphia; General Franklin Davenport, John
Lawrence and James B. Cooper, of Woodbury; Col.
Joshua Howell, of Fancy Hill in Gloucester, Capt. Samuel
Whitall, of Red Bank; Col. Heston, of Glassboro, and
Jonas Cattell, guide and whipper-in, now upward of 72
years old, were members. With most of these gentlemen
* By FRANK H. STEWART.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 323
and R. M. Lewis, C. Clay, J. Morrell, A. Stocker, E. & B.
Tilghman, A. Erwin and Milnor the unknown an-
nalist had the pleasure of frequently crossing the pines
and plains of Gloucester County between the years 1809
and 1819.
A fine pack of imported fox hounds was distributed
among the sportsmen of West New Jersey, where their
progeny still existed in 1819.
The author of the reminiscences wrote that Jonas
Cattell could track a fox on the leaf covered ground of
a forest and when the dogs struck a scent determine
whether it was the trail of a fox or rabbit. He describes
the fox as a wary animal going down the middle of a
brook or over the top of a rail fence to throw the dogs
off the trail. An old fox is as untamable as a tiger. A
cub may be domesticated within a year but will never be
sociable except with his kind feeder. Let him loose and
he will ungratefully change his domestic for his natural
wild state.
He refers to the grey fox as of the native family and
the more mischievous red skin stock as imported rogues
of infamous character.
The stock suffering farmer hailed the hounds and
huntsman with delight, as friends free to enter his enclo-
sures and traverse his fields and his woods unmolested
from the loth of October to the loth of April. The farm-
ers hearing the music of the dogs would often hastily
bridle a horse and without a saddle join the hunt, fre-
quently acting as guides in the swamps and woods, and
when Reynard was in a hole, generally on the sunny side
of a hill, would help dig him out with pick and spade.
Sometimes the chase resulted in the capture of a
skunk or a ground hog and the members in these instances
had no rivalry or contention for the Brush, as when sly
old Reynard was captured. Blackwoodtown was then a
fair sized village and surrounded on every side by woods
well inhabited by foxes who always had a penchant to be
324 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
within the hearing of the crow of the cock. They, how-
ever,' took pains to have distant places of retreat and refuge
in case of a rout from their home storehouses.
The huntsmen were occasionally thrown by their
horses and the chase often extended as far as twenty-five
miles and lasted for hours.
NOTE) This club frequently met at the close of the day at the home
of Col. Heston, In Glassboro, which is still standing and now occupied by
Isaac Moffett. In the living room of that house tradition says that steps
were first taken for the organization of the First Troop of Philadelphia
City Cavalry.
Docket of John Li tie, J. P.
Of Newton Township
This book, commencing Nov. 30, 1781, and continu-
ing for a period of two years, was recently found in Phila-
delphia and presented to The Historical Society of Penn-
sylvania. It is highly probable that he was the paymaster
of the Revolution from Gloucester County.
On the first page of his docket is a list of the County
Officers as follows :
Councilors Elijah Clark, Joseph Hugg.
Assemblymen Joseph Cooper, Samuel Hugg, Joseph
Ellis.
County Clerk Elijah Clark.
Sheriff Thomas Denny.
Judges of Quarter Sessions John Cooper, Joseph
Hugg, John Wilkins.
Justices Waterford township, John Griffiths; New-
ton township, John Litle, Samuel Kinnard; Deptford
township, John Cooper, John Wilkins, Joseph Hugg,
John Sparks; Galloway township, Robert Morss, Thos.
Reynard ; Great Egg Harbor township, Thos. Champion,
Joshua Smith, Samuel Liyors.
Township Clerk Newton township, I. Harrison.
Constables Waterford township, Benj. Cozens,
John Shivers; Newton township, Isaac Cox; Gloucester
township, Barney Owen, Joshua Beats.
The first case, January n, 1782, is that of the State
vs. Lewis McKnight, on information of Major Sparks,
who charged the defendant with having two chests of
British goods clandestinely brought from the enemy. The
defendant produced a passport from Peter Furman, J. P.,
to the effect that the goods might be conveyed to Phila-
delphia. Thomas Parker and Brother made oaths and
declared that the goods had been seized and sold as prize
*By FRANK H. STEWART, 11/23/17.
326 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
goods, according to law of the State, and that the defend-
ant had legal right to transport the goods. Defendant
was dismissed.
Jan. 15, 1782. Squire Litle issued a pass to Wil-
liam Cassady to go on his lawful business while behaving
as a good subject of the United States.
Jan. 28, 1782. He issued a pass to Peter Jones.
March 2, 1782. William Tereen made oath that
fourteen pieces of Calimenco and two pieces of Durant
and ninety-five silk handkerchiefs in his charge, on the
way to Col. Summers of Philadelphia, were sent from
Joseph Edwards, Cape May, and that they had been seized
and sold as prize goods of the enemy.
April 27, 1782. William Wood was bound out by
his father, James Wood, to Joshua Cooper for 16 years 6
mos. until he reach the age of 21 years. His master was
to give him 6 months schooling, teach him the art of hus-
bandry and at the end of the apprenticeship give him two
suits of clothes, one of them new.
Aug. 31, 1782. Mary Anderson made a Deed of
Gift to her daughters Hannah and Phoebe Anderson of
all her property, real and personal. Andrew Anderson,
Jr., was appointed guardian.
Oct. 15, 1782. This day John Litle at the request
of Captain John Davis went to the State prison in Phila-
delphia and examined the seven deserters captured by
Captain Davis at Little Egg Harbor September 2nd, and
by him delivered to Elijah Weed ( ?) keeper of said
prison, on the 7th following. The prisoners of war were :
British Regt. Commanded by
David Munrow, 82d Lt. Col. Guning.
Alex. Wilson, 82d Lt. Col. Guning.
David Eker, 22d Capt. Wm. Riman.
Andrew Mackintosh, 2ist Lt. Col. Hamilton.
Samuel Bone, Hazards Corps,
Wm. Sleaton, Royal Artillery, Capt. Rockford.
Michael McKnight, 53d Grenadiers,
NOTES ON OivD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 327
Nov. 15. 1782. Jacob Spencer, Constable, brought
Donald McCloud, who upon examination confessed him-
self a British prisoner of war taken with Cornwallis and
a deserter from Little York belonging to the 76th Regi-
ment.
Nov. 3, 1782. He married William Williams, of
Pennsylvania, to Rebecca Garrison, of New Jersey.
Dec. 31, 1782. James Rud, formerly of West
Florida, took the oath of allegiance to the United States.
Jan. 1 6, 1783. He married William Watson to
Sarah Ackley both of Gloucester County.
Feb. n, 1783. Sarah Land bound her daughter,
Clarissa Cassaday, as apprentice to Joshua Cooper and
wife for 12 years 4 mos. 5 das. to the age of 18 years.
March 8, 1783. He committed a negro woman,
the property of Edward Pole, of the State of Pennsyl-
vania, to Gloucester jail as a runaway.
March 14, 1783. Marmaduke Cooper took the
oath of allegiance and fidelity to this State.
March 27, 1783. Hezekiah Kemble qualified as
Constable for the Township of Newton to act as Deputy
for William Cooper, ferry man.
July 23, 1783. Elias Covenover was bound by his
mother, Sarah Gandy, of Galloway township, to Jacob
Mills, blacksmith of Waterford township, for 7 years 2
mos. 7 days until he reach the age of 21 years.
Justice of Peace Litle had the usual number of suits
for small amounts tried before him, and from them we
glean the following names of men of Old Gloucester
County: Hugh Cooper, Enoch Gandy, Hosea Oliphant,
James Chattin, James Clement, John Huston, Jacob Clem-
ent, Charles Hubs, Isaac Githens, Parr Willard, Isaac
Burroughs, William Carter, Isaiah Toy, Joseph Rud-
derow, Henry Branson, Isaac Horner, Timothy Middle-
ton, Jacob Baldin, Moses Hustis, Benj. Middleton, Joseph
Burroughs, Chas. French, John Williamson, Sam'l Bur-
328 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
roughs, Francis Key, Thos. Ostler, Benj. Inskeep. Joseph
Davis, Cumberland Sheppard, John Wells, John Cook,
Martha Willson, Aaron Holmes, Benj. Haines, Thos.
Carter, Henry Daniel, Jacob Browning, John Heritage,
Thos. Hampton and others.
Historical References
Among- the best sources of information about Old
Gloucester County are the following :
Mickle's ''Reminiscenses of Old Gloucester."
Clement's "First Settlers in Newton Township."
Proceedings West New Jersey Surveyors' Associa-
tion, 1880.
Carter's "Woodbury and Vicinity."
Kalm's "Travels in North America."
Publications of the Gloucester County Historical
Society.
Prowell's "History of Camden County."
"Memoirs Gloucester Fox Hunting- Club."
"Heston's Annals."
E. P. Tanner's "The Province of New Jersey."
Gushing & Sheppard's ''History of Gloucester, Salem
and Cumberland Counties."
Cooper's "Historical Sketch of Camden."
Fisler's "History of Camden."
Publications of the Atlantic County Historical So-
ciety.
Printed Archives State of New Jersey.
Swedish Settlements on the Delaware.
Learning & Spicer's Collections.
Clement's "Early Settlements of West New Jersey."
Stryker's "Officers and Men of New Jersey in the
Revolution."
Files of Gloucester County Democrat and Woodbury
Constitution.
Camden, Woodbury, Haddonfield and Atlantic City
Free Libraries.
The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania.
Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Philadelphia Libraries.
21
330 NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY.
Manuscript records at State House, Trenton.
Manuscript records at Court House, Woodbury.
Manuscript records at Court House, Mays Landing.
Manuscript records at Court House, Camden.
Manuscript records of Haddonfield and Woodbury
Friends Meetings.
Manuscript records of Trinity Church, Swedesboro.
Manuscript records of Moravian Church, Oldmans
Creek.
Manuscript records West Jersey Proprietors, Survey-
or General's Office, Burlington.
Bonsall & Carse's "Sketch of Camden City."
Historical and Industrial Review of Camden.
Clay's "Annals of the Swedes on the Delaware."
"Industries of New Jersey," Part 2, by Historical
Publishing Company.
Geographic Dictionary of New Jersey, by Henry
Gannett.
De Vries' ''Voyages to America, 1632 to 1644."
Colonial and Revolutionary Relics of New Jersey,
1893. Descriptive Catalogue.
Report on the Condition of the Public Records of the
State of New Jersey, 1917.
Historical Review of Blackwood Presbyterian
Church, by Rev. F. R. Brace, D. D.
"Atlantic City, Its Early and Modern History," by
Carnesworthe.
Hall's "History of Atlantic City."
English's "History of Atlantic City."
"Outline History of the Presbyterian Church in West
or South Jersey from 1700 to 1865," by Alfred Martien.
"Revolutionary Reminiscenses of Camden County,"
by John Clement.
Atlas and History of the New Jersey Coast, by
Woolman & Rose.
"Narratives of Early Pennsylvania, West New Jer-
sey and Delaware," by Albert Cook Myers.
NOTES ON OLD GLOUCESTER COUNTY. 331
"Swedish Churches in New Sweden," by Israel
Acrelius.
Heston's "Historical Calendar of New Jersey."
Poems of Rev. Nathaniel Evans.
Smith's "History of New Jersey."
"History and Collections of New Jersey," by Barber
& Howe.
"History and Gazateer of New Jersey," by Thos. F.
Gordon.
"History of New Jersey," by Isaac S. Mulford, M. D.
"New Jersey as a Colony and as a State," by Francis
B. Lee.
"Officers and Men of New Jersey in Wars 1791-
1815."
The New Jersey Society of Pennsylvania
Officers 1917
President,
H. K. MULFORD.
Vice-President,
]. B. VAN SCIVER.
Secretary,
WILLIAM J. CONLEN.
Treasurer,
C. STANLEY FRENCH.
Directors,
JAMES B. BORDEN,
GEORGE B. HURFF,
JOSEPH H. GASKILL,
T. MONROE DOBBINS,
J. W. SPARKS,
W. COPELAND FURBER,
JOHN D. JOHNSON,
W. J. PERKINS,
CLAYTON F. SHOEMAKER.
Committees 1917
Banquet Committee,
C. STANLEY FRENCH, Chairman.
WILLIAM J. CONLEN,
J. B. BORDEN,
RICHARD CAMPION,
HENRY W. LEEDS.
Auditing Committee,
HENRY C. THOMPSON, JR.,
Chairman.
JOSEPH H. PARVIN,
*WlLLIAM B. RlLEY,
CHARLES J. WEBB.
Speakers Committee,
HON. E C. STOKES, Chairman.
HON. J. HAMPTON MOORE,
SAMUEL T. BODINE,
ELLWOOD R. KIRBY, M. D.
HON. LEWIS STARR.
Finance Committee,
HOWARD B. FRENCH, Chairman.
NATHAN T. FOLWELL,
A. MERRITT TAYLOR,
FRANCIS B. REEVES,
HEULINGS LIPPINCOTT.
Membership Committee,
J. W. SPARKS, Chairman.
N. W. CORSON,
EDWARD H. LEVIS,
GEORGE B. HURPP,
RICHARD C. BALLINGER.
Publicity Committee,
CHARLES E. HIRES, Chairman.
F. WAYLAND AYER,
J. B. VAN SCIVER,
R. C. WARE.
Biographical and Historical
Committee,
Louis B. MOFFETT, Chairman.
WILLIAM COPELAND FURBER,
HON. REUBEN O. MOON,
HENRY S. HAINES,
HON. LEWIS STARR.
Outing Committee,
FRANK H. STEWART, Chairman.
HOWARD M. COOPER,
DR. WALLACE MCGEORGE,
J. HAINES LIPPINCOTT,
EDWARD S. THORPE,
T. MONROE DOBBINS.
Historian,
FRANK H. STEWART.
1 Deceased.
List of Members
Armstrong, F. Wallis Charter. Cook, Thomas H.
Armstrong, George H. Charter. Cooke, Armith H.
Armstrong, Wynn Charter. Corson, Newton W.
Armstrong, Edward Ambler
Charter.Dudley, Edward Charter.
Armstrong, Thomas F.
Ayer, F. W.
Bishop, John I. Charter.
Borton, Joshua E Charter.
Budd, Thomas J. Charter.
Buckman, John W. Charter
Brown, Joseph E.
Ballinger, Richard C.
Biddle, Charles Miller
Bodine, Harry E.
Bartlett, Charles F.
Bowen, Samuel B.
Ballinger, Edwin Heckman
Browning, William J.
Borden, James B.
Bergen, George J.
Baird, David, Jr.
Bell, C. Edward
Bateman, Frank
Broughton, Chas. E.
Burt, John
Bodine, Samuel T.
Borden, Josiah B.
Borden, F. M.
Brown, Chas. W.
Biddle, Robert, 2d.
Biddle, Charles, Jr.
Borden, John Hance
Batten, Clarence H.
Bateman, Fred. H.
Cooper, Joseph W. Charter.
Campion, Richard Charter.
Cross, Joseph
Cooper, William J.
Closson, James Harwood
Collins, David J.
Conlen, William J.
Coles, John W.
Conkling, Edward N.
Campbell, Joseph S.
Cattell, William C.
Cresse, Wadsworth
De Camp, A. J. Charter.
Deacon, Benjamin Charter.
Dobbins, T. Monroe Charter.
Doughten, Wm. W.
Davis, Ellison H.
De Camp, A. Neville
Duane, Russell
Dunn, John C.
Doughten, Wm. S.
Endicott, Allen B. Charter.
Edmunds, Henry R. Charter.
Emery, William
Eveland, F. W.
Early, William
Edmunds, Chas. H.
Edmunds, N. Perry
French, Howard B. Charter.
French, J. Hansell Charter.
French, C. Stanley Charter.
Folwell, William H. Charter.
Folwell, Nathan T. Charter.
Folwell, P. Donald Charter.
French, Thomas E. Charter.
Furber, William Copeland
Charter.
Folwell, Charles H.
French, Harry B.
French, C. Dunning
Gwilliam, John
French, Samuel H., 3d.
Frazier, Daniel B.
Fogg, Charles M.
Fogg, Robert S.
Fort, Pierson T.
Gibbs, W. W. Charter.
Gaskill, Nelson B. Charter.
Gill, Joseph C. Charter.
Grundy, Joseph R. Charter.
Gaskill, Joseph H. Charter.
Gaskill, Henry Kennedy (M. D.)
Gaunt, G. W. F.
LIST OP MEMBERS.
335
Grosscup, Edward
Githens, Horace G.
Gilmour, Dr. H. Lake
Gibbon, Charles S.
Gunn, George C.
Gilmore, S. C.
Leeds, Henry W. Charter.
Lippincott, J. Haines Charter.
Lippincott, J. Bertram
LeBar, Frank
Lober, John B.
Lippincott, Walter H.
Lippincott, O. C.
Hollingshead, Irvin W. Charter.Lippincott, Wm. R.
Homer, John G. Charter.
Hamilton, Charles R. Charter.
Hurff, George B.
Hutchinson, John P.
Hendrickson, Joseph D.
Humphreys, Harry R.
Hildreth, James M. E.
Hires, Charles E.
Hagert, Edwin
Hurley, William Leonard
Hatch, Cooper B.
Hancock, Walter C.
Hedley, T. Wilson
Hunt, Walter Evans
Hughes, Robert D.
Hires, Lucius E.
Haines, Henry P. (Honorary
Member)
Hilson, Hugh H.
Hutchinson, John H.
Hewitt, W. Stirling
Hires, Charles E., Jr.
Hires, Russell R.
Hancock, Clinton C.
Hurff, Eldorus
Hulme, Thomas W.
Lippincott, Edmund N.
Moore, J. Hampton Charter.
Mulford, H. K Charter.
Moon, Reuben O. Charter.
Morton, Newton
Moffett, Louis B.
Morgan, Allen S.
Massey, William E.
Mulford, H. K., Jr.
Mallery, Otto T.
Meyer, Arthur L.
Maclntire, Fred. H.
Newton, Joseph R.
Newton, Mahlon W.
Pedrick, William, Jr. Charter.
Parvin, Joseph H.
Perkins, John H.
Prickitt, Cooper H.
Perkins, W. J.
Pancoast, Wm. G.
Pettit, Jonathan G.
Plummer, William
Perkins, E. Russell
Joline, Charles Van Dyke Charter.Reeves, Francis B. Charter.
Johnson, John D.
Jessup, George W.
Johnson, Howard Cooper
Jessup, Cooper
Jessup, Charles G.
Kelly, James D.
Kaighn, Joseph
Kuser, B. C.
Kuser, R. V.
Kelsey, Henry C.
Kirby, Ellwood R. (M. D.)
Knox, Kerro
Kugler, Victor E.
Learning, Edmund B. Charter
Lippincott, Heulings Charter.
Levis, Edward H. Charter.
Lippincott, Walter Charter.
Rainear, A. Rusling Charter.
Roydhouse, George W. Charter.
Read, Edmund E., Jr. Charter.
Robb, Walter E.
Reeves, Frank H.
Rudderow, Maurice B.
Robbins, Samuel K.
Read, William Thackara
Ridgway, Caleb S.
Reeves, Charles Carroll, Jr.
Rue, William Harry
Roberts, Howard E.
Reeves, S. French
Reeves, Francis B., Jr.
Stokes, Edward Casper
Stites, A. Judson Charter.
Starr, Lewis Charter.
Starr, Jesse W., Jr. Charter.
336 LIST OF MEMBERS.
Steelman, A. Lincoln Van Sciver, J. B.
Synnott, Thomas W. Veale, Moses
Shoemaker, Clayton French Van Sciver, Geo. C.
Sparks, J. W. ' Vorhies, John C.
Swackhammer, Austin H.
Sharp, Walter P. Wood, George Charter.
Steelman, Daniel S. Wood, Walter Charter.
Stewart, Frank H. Watkins, David O.
Stites, Fletcher W. Watts, Ernest
Slack, Fred. A. Wills, Richard Albert
White, Blanchard H.
Thompson, Henry C., Jr. Charter. Walker, Edwin Robert
Taylor, A Merritt Charter. Wainwright, A. B.
Taylor, C. Clifford Webb, Chas. J.
Thorpe, Benjamin Ware, R. C.
Thorn, H. Norman Ware, A. M.
Tyler, George H. Woolman, C. S.
Thorpe, Edward Sheppard Waddington, E. C.
Index
Page.
Apprentices 57
Arms and Ammunition 1 14, 1 17
Assembly, pay of Members of 89-90
Assessors ( 1708) 13
Attorneys' Commissions 21
Attorneys (1740 to 1764) 25
Authority to Print 4
Bass, Secretary 90
Battle of Gloucester 321
Battle of Red Bank 35
Bell for Court House, ordered 99
new, for Court House, ordered no
Book for Recording Deeds, ordered 99
Bounty for wolves, foxes, etc 92
Bridges and Old Roads 14
Bridges, repairs to 129
Bridge, Timber Creek, rebuilt 95, 106, 121
Burial Places, Ancient 265
Census, Military, 1794 319
Chestnut Neck, Battle of 307
Clark, Thomas, Journal of 303
Clergymen, distinguished 291
Clerks : 1723-1740 108
1740-1770 120
1770-1800 132
Clerk's Office, plan for erection of 127
Committees, New Jersey Society of Pennsylvania 333
Constables (1782) 24
Constables' Staffs 115
Convicts executed 100, 109
Cooper Creek Ferry 17
Cooper's Ferry Road 16
Cooper, James B 133
Cornbury, Lord, visit of 88
Collin, Nicholas, Rev 291
338 INDEX.
Page.
Cost of Living 18
Counterfeit money 122
County Collectors, 1723-1740 108
County Collectors, 1740-1770 120
County Collectors, 1770-1800 132
County Line, between Salem and Gloucester counties, fixed... 116
Court House and Prison 11,89,91,103
Court House and Prison, contract for 96
Court House and Prison, old buildings sold 98
Court House and Prison, repairs to 109
Court House, addition to (1708) 91
Court House, damaged by fire 117,123
Court House and Jail, site selected 124
Court House and Jail, first erected 103
Court House at Woodbury, petition for 123
Court Records 9
Court Records, Revolutionary Period 22
Croes, John, Rev 291
Currency, Farm Produce as 13
Custom House, Little Egg Harbor 3*3
Davenport, Gen. Franklin 139
Death Penalty Enforced 100
Debt, Imprisonment for 20
Diary of Samuel Mickle 155
Ear Mark Book 10
Early Accounts, 1706 89
Evans, Nathaniel, Rev 292
Families, Gloucester County in the West 320
Family Names, spelling of 261
Fees, license 25
Ferry, Cooper Creek 17
Fire Company, Woodbury IS 1
Fire Engine, Contributions for 129
First Quakers in Old Gloucester 263
Foreword 5
Freeholders, fined 101
records from 1701 87
1716 94
1721 99
1722 101
INDEX. 339
Page.
Freeholders,
1723-1740 107
1740-1770 119
1770-1800 131
Gloucester County, its formation and divisions 289
Gloucester Fox Hunting Club 322
Grand Jurors, 1766 21
Guns 117
Haddon Hall, of Haddonfield 293
Handcuffs and irons 100
Heston, Col. Thomas 143
Historical Notes 317
Historical References 329
Historical Society, Gloucester County 318
Hunter, Andrew, Rev 291
Indian King, The 147
Indictments (1770) 11,21
(1787) 25
Inn and tavern licenses 61
Irons for prisoners 99
Jail, construction of 94
Judges (1779) 24
Justices and Freeholders 92, 94, 95, 98, 99, 101, 102
1716 94
1721 99
1722 101
1723-1740 106
1740-1770 119
1770-1800 131
King's Highway 69
Lawrence, James 319
Library, room selected for 128
Licenses, Inn and Tavern (1770) 61
Litle, John, Docket of 326
Loan Office 27, 120
Lord Cornbury, visit of 88
Members, New Jersey Society of Pennsylvania 334
34O INDEX.
Page.
Merchant, a Gloucester County Si
Merchants, Philadelphia (1779-1791 ) 52
Mickle, Diary of Samuel ISS
year 1792 157
1793 158
1798 162
1799 *63
1800 165
1801 168
1802 171
1803 174
1804 176
1805 179
1806 180
1807 183
1808 185
1809 187
1810 ". 189
1811 190
1812 191
1813 194
1814 197
1815 199
1816 201
1817 204
1818 207
1819 210
1820 213
1821 215
1822 218
1823 221
1824 226
1825 232
1826 239
1827 245
1828 249
1829 252
Moravian Church 77
Newbie, Mark, Irish Pence 3*7
New Jersey (poem) 3
Oaks, large white 3*7
Officers, New Jersey Society of Pennsylvania 332
INDEX. 341
Page.
Old Families 26, 27
Old Residents, 1789-1792 57
Old Trinity Church 29
Otto, Dr. Bodo, Jr., Life of 309
Parliamentary Rules 100
Poor House, considered 129
farm purchased 130
Post offices, Gloucester County (1800) 319
Prisoners, cost of keeping 90
Records, missing from 1748 to 1755 21
Red Bank, Battle of 35
Revolution, Men of 321
Revolutionary Period 22, 121, 255, 304
Roads 14, 25, 128
Cooper's Ferry 16
new 17
laid out 126
Road Houses 18
Saw, Grist, Fulling Mills, taxes IOI
Sheriff's expenses 108
Slavery 65
Slaves set free by 66
Somers, Richard 320
Surveyors (1744) 19
Taverns 20
Tavern licenses 22, 61
Taxation, how levied in 1762 113
Taxes levied 87,93, 100
against certain property owners 101, 105, 113
Taxes, 1708 12, 91
Things taxed 113
Township Book, Great Egg Harbor 55
Township Divisions in
Lines, cost of running 112
Officials, Deptford (1779) 23
Trinity Church 29
Watch and Work House 104
Whipper imported 108
342 INDEX.
Page.
Whipping Post 22
Whipping Post, stocks, etc 89, 98, 104
Whitall, Ann, Diary of 3*5
Whitall, Job, Diary of year of 1776 255
1777 256
Wild Beasts killed 104
Wolves and Panthers 93, 95, 104, 108
Woodbury Fire Co 150
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